The telegram for help was despatched to Kroonstad about 7 A.M., but the reinforcements did not arrive till nearly 3.30 P.M. The Boers early became aware of their near approach, however, and began cautiously to remove their four guns, two of which--15-pounders--were part of their capture at Sanna's Post. Meanwhile the small force, who had been straining every nerve and muscle for many hours, and meant to die in the last ditch rather than surrender, were anxiously looking towards the south for succour. Then, at last, the friendly scouts were seen coming over the hill. Oh! the relief of it! The welcome rumour of help gave energy to the men, who, after their long inactivity, had been suddenly thrown, vilely armed, into vigorous action, and were by now well-nigh exhausted. Away flew the hostile hordes, but not without having done a fair day's work of destruction--line, telegraph, and culverts being wrecked, one officer and three men killed, and one officer and seventeen men wounded! While this gang of Boers were worrying the Honing Spruit party, another had attacked the Shropshires and Canadians at Katbosh Camp, and thus deterred them from going to the assistance of their brothers in distress. But it was owing to the splendid fighting of the Canadians that the Dutchmen had found it impossible to close in round Honing Spruit, and the party at the railway station were enabled to hold out till the relieving force arrived. After the Boers left, the troops still remained in the trenches, and strengthened them as much as possible; but the Argyll and Sutherland Militia and some Mounted Infantry and a battery arrived from Kroonstad, and the battery shelled some kopjes three miles away, where the Boers--some 700 to 1000 of them, with three or four guns--were collecting. It was said that the Boer loss was six killed, and that they took away three waggons full of wounded, but this, of course, could not be verified.