The battle then resolved itself into {p.167} both parties holding their positions until nightfall, when the Highland Brigade was withdrawn from the perilous position in which it had passed fifteen hours of exposure, heat and thirst.

The British slept on the ground, their general purposing next morning to occupy the kopje, if deserted, but finding the enemy then still in the trenches, he withdrew his force to the Modder.
The battle of Magersfontein brought Methuen to a standstill, and postponed for more than two months the relief of Kimberley.

The disaster which befell the Highland Brigade was one of those incidents which ought not to have occurred, but determination of blame must await more precise information than is now accessible.

To retain the cover of darkness for an approach made within effective, though long, range of the enemy's fire--to deploy as near as possible to him, but still too distant to be seen--to keep 3,000 men in black darkness in touch, yet not compacted--these are conditions desirable of attainment but difficult to combine, and, like all combinations, liable to fail in some element.

The total loss, by the last revised returns, was {p.168} 171 killed, 691 wounded, four-fifths of which fell on the Highland Brigade and in the first few moments.