For once the loss of the defence was greater than that of the attack.

These mercenaries had not the instinct which teaches the Boer the right instant for flight, and they held their position too long to get away.

The British had left four hundred men on the track of that gallant advance, but the vast majority of them were wounded--too often by those explosive or expansive missiles which make war more hideous.

Of the Boers we actually buried over a hundred on the ridge, and their total casualties must have been considerably in excess of ours.
The action was strategically well conceived; all that Lord Roberts could do for complete success had been done; but tactically it was a poor affair, considering his enormous preponderance in men and guns.

There was no glory in it, save for the four regiments who set their faces against that sleet of lead.