‘The night of the 24th to the 25th was one of confused and chaotic panic, which strongly savoured of the beginning of a rout. In the estimation of many the hour of hasty retreat had no doubt sounded, and horses’ heads were turned Ladysmithwards without waste of time. It was expected that the English would make an attack in force next morning, or perhaps in the night, but the demoralisation was so great that no regular watches were kept all along the line of defence in the proximity of Spion Kop. Here and there, it is true, some determined fellows clubbed together with the resolve to have one more trial the next morning, but there is no doubt that if the British had attacked that night the Federals would have made but poor resistance at the utmost, and that their rout would have been a matter of course. Had the English only held the Spion Kop in force until the morning, a second struggle, weakened as the Federals were, would have meant an heroic effort, a short fight, and the success of the English. ‘It was with feelings of blended wonder and thankfulness that some of the Pretoria men and some Free Staters under Commandant Cronje, on climbing the Kop at daybreak, found it tenanted only by corpses and some wounded. Lo! the English had gone! Was it possible? It might be a trap! But no, it was the truth: no soldiers, with the exception of the harmless dead and crippled Khakis, were in sight. The incredible news spread. ‘The exultation of the foreigners at the new gift of victory made to the Federals by English incompetency was great. The remarks uttered in different languages may be condensed in the words of a German officer whose critical judgment was short and to the point: “Wahrhaftig! Dummheit gegen Unwissenheit.” (“Truly, stupidity against ignorance.”) The Boers, hardly knowing what exultation means, were less loud and less given to criticise, but the astonishment they manifested was a censure not to be gainsaid.... Why the English abandoned the Kop in the night from the 24th to the 25th is for me and many others somewhat of a mystery.’ Mr. Raymond Maxwell, in the Boer ambulance, records in his diary: ‘_January 24th._--It was rumoured last night that Kimberley had fallen, but this is most likely spread about owing to the critical position at Upper Tugela.