The enemy evidently feared another assault, for in the course of the night of February 24th-25th, they opened a vigorous fire, which disturbed the slumbers of General Hart's force, and created some excitement. During all this time the unlucky wounded, who had been hit on the 23rd, had been left lying in front of the Boer trenches. It was impossible to help them, since all attempts in that direction had been frustrated by the enemy. But on the morning of Sunday, February 25th, a partial armistice was agreed upon in order to bring in the wounded and to bury the dead. The armistice ended at 6 p.m., and both sides commenced firing immediately afterwards. [Illustration: Pieter's Hill. February 27th, 1900.] Meanwhile, Sir Redvers Buller had evolved a new plan of operations, and decided to attack with his combined force the three hills--Pieter's, Railway, and Hart's. For this purpose the greater part of the artillery was brought from the left bank and concentrated on the right bank, opposite the points to be assaulted. It was in position by the 26th, and began a slow bombardment of the Boer trenches. During the night, the pontoon bridge under Hlangwane was dismantled, and carried down to a point below the Boer bridge, where it was relaid, an operation which was not concluded until 10 a.m. on the 27th. On the day before, the Dublin Fusiliers had been ordered to join temporarily General Barton's Brigade. It left its position among the rocks of Hart's Hollow about 7 a.m. on February 27th, and, moving down the hill through the deserted Boer laager, halted by the pontoon bridge. Here it was joined soon after 9 a.m. by the Irish and Scots Fusiliers, and came under the command of General Barton. [Illustration: Pontoon Bridge, River Tugela. February 28th, 1900.] The battalion followed the Scots Fusiliers, and moved along the left bank of the Tugela at the foot of a steep ridge, being covered by infantry and maxim fire from the right bank. After a march of two miles, and at the point where the Klip River joins the Tugela, the 6th Brigade turned to its left and prepared to attack the Boer position, which, lying some two miles from the river, stretched from the ridges north of Eagle's Nest to the various kopjes constituting Pieter's Hill. General Barton directed the Royal Irish Fusiliers to assault the western end of Pieter's Hill and the Scots Fusiliers the eastern, while the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers formed the reserve.