position extended some sixteen miles, their left, the Diamond Hill, being so strong and so extended that movement of an enveloping kind was thought to be almost impossible. Nevertheless, while General French (assisted by Hutton's Mounted Infantry), through country inimical to cavalry operations, was perilously and vigorously engaged in making a wide detour in order to envelop the right flank of the enemy and hold him from swelling his numbers elsewhere, General Ian Hamilton on the enemy's left flank (some six miles south of the line), his ambitions centred on Diamond Hill and the line of rail beyond, operated correspondingly. Far to right, in a somewhat crab-like fashion, moved the cavalry; Gordon's Brigade--the outer pincer as it were--wheeled round the almost impregnable stronghold of the Boers; to left, Ridley's Brigade and De Lisle's Corps of Mounted Infantry--forming the left or inner pincer--twisted towards Pienaar's Poort, while Broadwood's Brigade--the head and front of the creature--endeavoured to spit forth and pierce through this central gap, and if possible get behind the Boers on Diamond Hill. Early in the day the southern slopes of Diamond Hill became the scene of contest between Ridley's Brigade and the enemy, whose rifles poured their sleet over the advancing mass and whose guns clamoured loudly in the distance. Broadwood's Brigade, meanwhile, began a bold advance--across a spruit and over a plain to a passage towards the railway line--an advance which was hailed more boisterously than pleasantly by a converging storm from the enemy's heavy guns. Still the cavalry pushed forward, while Lieutenant Conolly with two horse guns was set to clear the course. But the Boers, inch by inch, stubbornly contested the way. The stentorian tones of warring artillery were heard in an argument that lasted hours, while parties of Boer riflemen approached with such audacity with a view to the annihilation of the gunners of Q Battery and the capture of their pieces, that for protection sake the 12th Lancers were ordered to charge. Unfortunately, at this critical juncture their commander, the Earl of Airlie, who already had had his horse shot under him, was seeking a new charger. He joined his regiment in time to lead to the attack, but taking a more northerly direction than was intended, he found himself exposed to a murderous tornado from the southern slopes of Diamond Hill. Nevertheless, the charge of the valiant band, small though it now was, had a glorious result. Away scudded the Boers to both sides, scattering over the distance towards Diamond Hill, while their oppressive propinquity to the British guns and Broadwood's right flank was brought to an abrupt close. This done, Lord Airlie decided, as the horses were too jaded and overworked to engage in effective pursuit, to become no further involved. He was about to withdraw his regiment when suddenly a bullet caught him, and, almost instantly, he fell dead. Thus the Empire lost one of its