There was terrible confusion in front of us. All I could see was a confused mass of horses, bullocks, Cape carts and men moving swiftly and silently, like a great black river, down upon us; in the middle of all this was a water cart, tearing along with no drivers, and the six mules going all they knew; there was a mad bullock charging, head down, tail up, amongst the men, and there were loose horses everywhere. It seems the battery had dismounted during the halt, and the men were lying down when the firing broke out. The Major of the battery was shot dead at once by the first discharge, and several horses were killed and wounded; instantly, however, one of the gun detachments unlimbered, swung the gun round and got off a shot at the Boers; but by this time there was a regular stampede going on amongst the animals, which were all rushing back on us to get out of the dreadful fire, and the fearful noise and echoing of rifle shots, which were incessant. In the battery, several men were run over and seriously injured by bolting wagons, one of the latter travelling several miles before it was brought back; the team of oxen had swung round with the heavy five inch gun and had smashed the pole, two bullocks had been killed and several injured; the escort to the battery were apparently men of the Argyll and Sutherland Militia, and they lay down and opened fire. By this time (and all the foregoing happened in a few seconds), our companies were all extended across the veldt, stretching away from the road, and were parallel to and about a thousand yards from the hill occupied by the enemy, at the skyline of which we were firing. It was still dark, but momentarily growing lighter and lighter, and our men were blazing away steadily, when Captain Ross, the Divisional Signalling officer, came down with an order from General Hunter for the Royal Sussex to charge the hill. That was all the Royal Sussex were waiting for: the whistle blew, and the whole line rose to their feet, and rushed wildly across the open ground, a few bullets dropping in front of us; yelling, cheering and cursing, and fixing bayonets as they ran, this wild mob kept on until want of breath necessitated a halt. A moment or two to fill their lungs, and on they dashed again, until checked by a wire fence, A company well in front with the start they had got, and young Wadwicz leading the way; but Cox, of F company, showing us that the reserve man was the best of all. The enemy's fire had ceased as suddenly as it had begun; some of us had our hearts in our mouths as, checked for a moment, we clambered over the barbed wires, dreading momentarily that the Boers were only holding their fire until we were mixed up in the fencing.