The head of the line of hard-breathing yeomen reached the plateau just as the Boers, sweeping over the remnants of the Northumberland Fusiliers, reached the brink of the cliff.

One by one the yeomen darted over the edge, and endeavoured to find some cover in the face of an infernal point-blank fire.

Captain Mudie of the staff, who went first, was shot down.

So was Purvis of the Fifes, who followed him.

The others, springing over their bodies, rushed for a small trench, and tried to restore the fight.