Some of the guns were left with two men to work them, one was loaded and fired by a single officer.

When at last the order for retirement came, only ten men, several of them wounded, were left upon their feet.

With scratch teams from the limbers, driven by single gunners, the twelve-pounders staggered out of action, and the skirmish line of mounted infantry sprang to their feet amid the hail of bullets to cheer them as they passed.
It was no slight task to extricate that sorely stricken force from the close contact of an exultant enemy, and to lead it across that terrible donga.

Yet, thanks to the coolness of Broadwood and the steadiness of his rearguard, the thing was done.

A practicable passage had been found two miles to the south by Captain Chester-Master of Rimington's.