This corps, with Roberts's, the New Zealanders, and the 3rd Mounted Infantry, covered the withdrawal in turn.

It was one of those actions in which the horseman who is trained to fight upon foot did very much better than the regular cavalry.

In two hours' time the drift had been passed and the survivors of the force found themselves in safety.
The losses in this disastrous but not dishonourable engagement were severe.

About thirty officers and five hundred men were killed, wounded, or missing.

The prisoners came to more than three hundred.