Half an hour before dawn on the following morning Colonel Buller was to be seen scanning the horizon in all directions, and by sunrise his party were all in the saddle, and _en route_. They soon reached the ford at the Blood river, which had gone down considerably since Buller had last seen it. The country over which they rode was fairly open. They crossed the ford without difficulty, and gaining the opposite bank, reached a plain, from which they were, however, divided by a broad and well-worn watercourse. Here they faced the mountain, a long unbroken range, varying in height from 1000 to 1500 feet, which ran down the left of the valley. A portion of the mounted men were now sent away to the right, with instructions to ride up the kloof, then dismount, scale the rocks, and await the result of the advance of the main body. Should natives oppose the latter in force, the flanking party were then to drive them down the mountain, where it was expected they would fall into the hands of the Basutos under Henderson and Rane, who were placed in ambush on the left. After half an hour's careful scouting, not a sign of a Zulu could be seen, and Colonel Buller then gave the not unwelcome order to off-saddle at, or rather close to, a kraal which bore unmistakable evidences of recent native occupation. The troopers had no sooner off-saddled, however, than the wily savages emerged from the caves and crevices where they had been hid, and could be distinctly seen making the best of their way with considerable speed up Sirayo's krantz exactly opposite to where Buller's men were. They evidently were in some force, and two or three men on horseback were observed directing their movements as their reinforcements came rapidly in. The force, however, they were able to collect was extremely small, and certainly would not have numbered more than half Colonel Buller's command. The Prince Imperial was excellently mounted upon a handsome and powerful horse, who seemed, however a little fidgety under fire. Lieut. Rane was now sent on with a few Basutos, to see whether any stand would be made by the enemy; and the Prince Imperial immediately galloped after him, to see what he could of the fun. When these men arrived at the foot of the mountain, they found a much easier ascent than they had expected. A footpath, which, however, was quite practicable for horses, was seen winding in a devious manner in and out of the tall mimosa-trees which fringed the belt of the wood, and along this path dashed Rane and his Basutos, closely followed by the Prince, whose impatience to get to the front was noticed by all. On reaching the summit, however, not a Zulu or an enemy of any kind was to be seen. This was soon accounted for by the fact that half way up the krantz on the right were posted a number of Zulus--perhaps about 100. While the main body were watching these people, to see if they would attempt to cut off from the column the