With a cheer that foretold success, the Devons dashed into the open.

The fire with which they were received was simply awful; it might have staggered any troops.
Leaving the cover of the stones, the Boers stood upright and emptied their magazines into the advancing line.

But it never wavered, never checked, though the ranks were sadly thinned.

The Boers fled from the boulders which they had held with such tenacity throughout the day, and turned at bay upon the {p.247} edge of the crest, hoping yet to stay the deadly rush of steel.

They were augmented from below, but the stand was of no avail.