Sunday the 25th was passed in inaction, removing the wounded and {p.298} the dead, and on Monday the whole force was withdrawn across the Tugela at Colenso, to try another movement from further down stream, to the north and east of Hlangwane, and again directed against the enemy's left.
[Footnote 39: Bullet's telegram from Ladysmith, March 2.] This retreat, though not certainly known, was vaguely suspected in Ladysmith, where the silence of Sunday sounded ominous.

The spirits of the now famishing garrison sank accordingly.

One among them writes: "The ending has been strange.

On Monday, February 26, the garrison was sunk in a slough of despondency.

On the previous Thursday General Buller had signalled from below in such confident language that the force had been placed upon full rations.