A troop of Royston's Horse, in command of Lieut. Percy Male, which had been sent from the grave to Fort Yolland on the 22nd to escort an ambulance waggon, returned on the 23rd, several hours after McKenzie's column had left, and just as Mansel's was moving off in the direction of Fort Yolland. After off-saddling close to the grave, the troop proceeded on its journey to overtake McKenzie. "The party had not gone more than a mile," says Male, "when about sixty Natives came out of a small bush and attacked us in the rear without the slightest provocation on our part. The time then was about 12.30 p.m. They did not come any closer than 200 yards. I asked Capt. Sharpe to take our seven spare horses on to Denga spur, about three miles from where we were attacked and about a mile from the mouth of the Mome valley. I remained behind with Sergt. Hepworth and three men to protect the rear. We fought a small rear-guard action, which lasted until we got on to the hill where the horses were waiting for us. When starting to go up the hill, the enemy closed in on our rear, right and left flanks. There were about 100 to 150 of them, but I could not see well. They kept up a desultory fire from the cover of the bush on both sides of the ridge I was going up. This firing continued until we had gained the top, about 4.30 p.m. On reaching the top, the men and horses being very 'blown,' we found the Natives trying to cut us off from the column. I posted two men on a kopje (one of them Tpr. T. Malone, subsequently killed at Tate). These kept up a pretty hot fire until we had mounted and advanced. After this, it was a case of galloping to get free. They hung on to our rear for about three or four miles, _i.e._ until we had sighted the rear-guard of the column (Z.M.R.)." "A few shots," says McKenzie,[199] "were fired by the Z.M.R. at the enemy when the top of the hill was reached. It has been, I understand, suggested that the fact of the Z.M.R., having fired these few shots, upset the enemy's idea of surrender, but this is manifestly incorrect, having in view the fact that the troop of Royston's Horse was fired at from almost the time when they passed the site of my old camp at Cetshwayo's grave, which was some considerable time before the shots were fired by the Z.M.R. Personally, I was satisfied that the incident did not in any way affect the non-surrender.[200] At the time, large bodies of rebels could be seen moving about on the hills singing what was reported to be their war-songs. This view was confirmed later on by Ndabaningi, who, when he eventually surrendered, was asked by me why they had not surrendered on the first occasion. He stated the tribe had agreed that they had not had enough fighting, and did not consider themselves beaten ... they therefore resolved to continue the Rebellion."