And now the continual crackle of the rifle fire, which had somewhat abated for the last two hours, suddenly swelled in volume. Away in the front rose dense clouds of dust as from the march of a large body of men. At first it was thought that the movement proceeded from the Boers; but the painful truth was soon revealed. The Highland Brigade had given way once more. Threatened with a flank attack by the enemy, under a heavy cross fire, the shaken, thirst-tortured infantry could hold its ground no longer. Colonel Hughes-Hallett, whom the death of his senior officers had left in command, saw the plight of his men and gave the order to retire. "Back they came," says the _Morning Post_ correspondent, "in a wave that no officer could stop. From a point of vantage on the Horse Artillery hill one could see them swarming like bees over the veldt till they were almost out of range, and the guns were left out in the open with no one to support them. It was, perhaps, the most unpleasant sight that a British soldier of to-day has ever beheld." [Illustration: "BACK FROM THE JAWS OF DEATH." [Sidenote: Artillery cover Highlanders' retreat.] This group of men represents as marvellous a series of escapes from death as can well be imagined. The man sitting on the left of the picture, Corporal Williams, was wounded by a Mauser bullet, which entered beneath the left eye, passed through the palate and mouth, and out at the root of the neck. Standing by him is Private Aitchison (A. & S. Highlanders), shot through the forehead an inch above the brow, the bullet passing clean through the head. Next to him is Private Carr (R.H.A.), shot in the middle of the neck, the ball passing through the mouth, concussing the spine. Standing on the right of the picture is Corporal McKenzie; in his case the bullet entered the left armpit, passed through the lung, and emerged just below the heart; he was shot again in the abdomen, the bullet emerging on the left side of the heart. Sitting on the right is Private Boughton (1st Border Regiment), shot through the nose and left tonsil, the bullet passing through the skull and out at the back of the head. All are perfectly recovered except Private Carr, who experiences some loss of power in the right arm. In the centre is Surgeon Harris, who took charge of these convalescents on board the _Umbria_ which brought them home.]