They stormed the redoubt at the top, and many of the garrison surrendered. Without pausing to secure the place, they sped down the eastern slope and reached the outskirts of the village of Cité St. Auguste. They were now right through the last line of German trenches, and were in a district where every fold in the ground sheltered a machine gun. By this time they were reduced to a few hundreds; they had no supports south or north, and no reserves were following them up. The redoubt on Hill 70 opened fire again, while from several strongholds in the neighbourhood streams of lead played upon them. In the course of three hours they had advanced nearly four miles, and the last line of the German defence was in their rear. Had reserves been available, and had their flanks been secure, Lens must have fallen and the Germans must have retreated. The Highlanders had gone too far, and they were now hidden in the fog and smoke of the eastern slope from the eyes of their comrades who were battling against the redoubt on the hill. They must be recalled, and two officers volunteered to go forward with the order to retire. Both fell on the way, but the order reached the stragglers, who turned and began to fight their way back through the encircling fire. Few of them returned to the British lines on the hill. "All down the slope towards Lens lay the tartans, Gordon and Black Watch, Seaforth and Cameron, like the drift left on the shore when the tide has ebbed." You will probably ask, Where were the reserves at this time? Why were they not brought up promptly, so that the gains of the Highlanders might be made good? There was a whole army corps in reserve. Where was it at this critical time? Sir John French tells us that he kept it under his own command, so that he might throw it into that part of the line where the need was greatest. On the night before the battle two divisions of this corps were about five miles from our old firing-line; another division--the Guards--lay nearly twenty miles from Loos, while other divisions were still more remote. All the reserves which Sir Douglas Haig possessed at the beginning of the battle consisted of the 3rd Cavalry Division. After the fall of Loos, when the Highlanders were in front of Cité St. Auguste, Sir John French sent him the 21st and 24th Divisions. At that time they were about eight miles from our front, and they could not possibly arrive before the German counter-attacks began. Long before they appeared the enemy was hurrying up fresh troops and flinging them against our worn and weary men. All through the drizzling rain of the afternoon until the sun set in a stormy sky our men were heavily assailed. They were clinging to their gains; but their hold on Fosse 8, on Pit 14, and on Hill 70 was weakening.