The entrenched laager was most artistically made in an incredibly short space of time. Within a radius of 500 yards all trees and bush were cut down and cleared away. In the centre a rectangle of waggons was formed, with earth thrown up above the axletrees, and at 15 yards' distance from these a trench and an embankment three feet high were constructed. Again, about 100 yards beyond this, strong and well made abattis were placed. These consisted of whole trees and stout branches 12 and 15 feet long, felled and placed side by side, with their butts inwards and boughs interlaced, while the twigs and small leaves were stripped off and the boughs sharply pointed. The butts were strongly picketed down, and in some cases fastened by logs laid across several butts. These abattis were fully five feet in height, and as green wood--not easy to burn--was selected, they made a formidable obstacle. It took 200 men only eight hours to construct 200 yards of abattis, and this, considering that many of them had never done such work before, was most creditable. All the officers were in the highest possible spirits, and no inconsiderable amount of banter was carried on between the two columns during the visits paid from one to the other. One of the most fertile subjects for "chaff" was the increasing weight and sleekness of Buller's men as compared with the visibly apparent attenuation of their horses, and the joke was to affect to believe that these "African Cossacks," as they were called, devoured all the oxen they captured, while making their horse-rations into oatmeal cakes for themselves! This story, if _ben trovato_, was singularly devoid of fact, for Buller's horses presented a most favourable contrast to those of Marshall, as the former would eat almost anything, and the latter were only just commencing to put up with mealies. The constant work of the former animals had naturally kept them devoid of superfluous flesh, but, for all this, they were as hard as "nails" and good in their wind.