The Welsh, who were the leading regiment, were staggered by the rain of bullets, and the Buffs passed them. So heavy was the fire to which they were exposed that every officer was hit, and, throwing themselves down, the men joined the Welsh in returning the fire of their unseen assailants. The men of the Essex regiment, who were next in order, pushed on, supported by the Yorkshires, and these with a cheer surged over the crest and fell upon its defenders, who were the Johannesburg Police, considered the best corps in the Boer army. It was composed of men of every nationality. They had been the terror and scourge of the town where they were supposed to keep order, and were, for the most part, unmitigated ruffians. They possessed, however, that fighting instinct that was absent among the Boers, a readiness to stand an attack, and they here suffered heavily for it. The Essex men were among them with the bayonet, and drove them like chaff before the wind, leaving a hundred dead behind them. The moment the position was carried, the Boers quitted their whole line of defences and fled hastily. In point of the number of casualties the action was an insignificant one. Kelly-Kenny's Brigade had lost four hundred in killed and wounded, but they alone had been engaged. The turning movement had failed altogether, from some miscalculation in distance. The attack had begun long before Tucker and the cavalry had reached their appointed place, and, as before, the Boers were able to draw off their waggons and guns. Nevertheless, the consequences were of immense importance. The road to Bloemfontein was again open, and the Boers had learned that, however strong their position, they could not hope to oppose the British advance. From this time until the army marched into Pretoria they never again attempted to make an enduring stand, but abandoned one after the other, without an attempt to defend them, the positions they had prepared, or rather had forced the Kaffirs to prepare for them with immense labour. There was no delay after this success; the army swept forward, and on the 12th they were within striking distance of Bloemfontein. The cavalry pushed forward to the railway south of the town and cut it, while Major Hunter-Weston, with a handful of Mounted Infantry, started to cut the lines to the north of the town. The feat was a bold and difficult one. The night was extremely dark, but they succeeded in finding the railway and in blowing up a culvert, and returning in safety after having fought their way through a Boer force they encountered. This action was of immense service, as it prevented the escape of twenty-eight railway-engines, two hundred and fifty trucks, and a thousand tons of coal, which were all standing in readiness to start as soon as the British were seen advancing against the town. It is not too much to say, that had these trains escaped, Lord Roberts would have found it next to impossible to supply his army with provisions.