After a skirmish they were compelled to make their way back with a loss of five killed and fourteen wounded.
The cavalry under French had waited for the issue of this enterprise at a point nine miles north of Johannesburg.

On June 2nd it began its advance with orders to make a wide sweep round to the westward, and so skirt the capital, cutting the Pietersburg railway to the north of it.

The country in the direct line between Johannesburg and Pretoria consists of a series of rolling downs which are admirably adapted for cavalry work, but the detour which French had to make carried him into the wild and broken district which lies to the north of the Little Crocodile River.

Here he was fiercely attacked on ground where his troops could not deploy, but with extreme coolness and judgment beat off the enemy.

To cover thirty-two miles in a day and fight a way out of an ambuscade in the evening is an ordeal for any leader and for any troops.
Two killed and seven wounded were our trivial losses in a situation which might have been a serious one.