It was a close thing.

At midday on Saturday the Boer advance guard was already near to the kopjes which command it.

But French's men, still full of fight after their march of thirty miles, threw themselves in front and seized the position before their very eyes.

The last of the drifts was closed.

If Cronje was to get across now, he must crawl out of his trench and fight under Roberts's conditions, or he might remain under his own conditions until Roberts's forces closed round him.