It was a bright moonlight night when the men set out on their march. Orders had been issued that absolute silence was to prevail, that no matches were to be struck, that orders were to be delivered by signs and not by word of command, and that at each halt the men were to kneel down. The ground was undulating, and wherever it was possible the column took advantage of the shadows thrown by the rising ground. The sight of these bodies of men moving almost without sound across the sandy soil, on which their feet fell noiselessly, was almost weird. Occasionally there came a deep rumble of wheels as the guns passed over a piece of rocky ground, and a murmur of annoyance could be heard in the column, for all knew how important it was that they should get as near as possible to the Boer position unheard. The Grenadiers led the way in the right column, the Scots Guards were on their left rear, the two battalions of Coldstreams were in reserve. Unfortunately these positions were not maintained. The Scots Guards came up abreast of the Grenadiers, but some distance to their left; the Grenadiers, instead of maintaining their direction, bore to the left and marched against Kaffir Kop; the Coldstreams diverged still further to the left; thus, instead of being concentrated for the attack on the central kopje, the brigade were scattered over a front of two miles. No doubt the efforts of the various battalions to find out each others' position delayed the advance, and they did not arrive until day had broken. The sun was just rising over the eastern hills when the Grenadiers came within three hundred yards of the foot of Kaffir Kop. Suddenly some guns placed on an eminence to its right opened fire, and at once a roar of musketry came from the top of the hill, while a heavy flanking fire also opened from Gun Hill, and a storm of bullets swept the line, many men falling at once, while the dust rose thickly around them as the Mauser bullets pattered fast on the sand. The order had been given that the troops were not to fire, but were to carry the hill at the point of the bayonet.