Two days after the battle the gallant Lieutenant Roberts, who had fallen mortally wounded in the effort to save the guns, died and was buried with five soldiers who, like him, had succumbed to their wounds. He lies at Chieveley in sight of the stubborn lines of entrenchments which on that mournful Friday repulsed the onslaught of the finest infantry in the world. To pay him the last honours General Clery and his staff were present at the funeral. Thus was all his early promise, all the hope of his family, laid in an untimely grave. He never knew that he had won the coveted honour of the Victoria Cross; life and glory slipped from him at once in painless forgetfulness. What England lost we can only guess from the achievements of his heroic father. [Illustration: GRAVE OF LIEUTENANT ROBERTS, V.C., AT CHIEVELEY.] [Illustration: A BOER QUICK-FIRING GUN AND ITS CREW.] [Sidenote: Destruction of Colenso road-bridge.] [Sidenote: Picket surprised by Boers.] In the days after the battle the Boers displayed their wonted inactivity. They made no attempt to annoy General Buller seriously, and were content with sending small parties of skirmishers south of the Tugela, who hung round the British camp at Chieveley, sniping water parties, patrols, and outposts. On December 19 the naval guns opened a heavy fire on Colenso road-bridge, which was still standing, with the object of destroying it and cutting off the retreat of the Boers who were south of the river. The existence of a Boer bridge north of Hlangwane was not known at this date. After three hours of continuous shelling a projectile struck and exploded a Boer mine, placed in the structure of the bridge, and a whole span was destroyed. From day to day the naval weapons fired a few shots at the Boer lines, whenever a party of the enemy was seen, and thus caused the Boers some loss. But these were the only incidents which broke the repose of the British camp. The soldiers, indeed, chafed at the monotony and inaction; they were eager to bring the war to a close and to return home; they feared, too, for Ladysmith, and would have wished to be allowed perpetually to harass the enemy. On the 20th a picket of seven men belonging to the 13th Hussars was surprised by the Boers, through the negligence of a corporal. The enemy surrounded the handful of men and fired upon them, killing two. The other five escaped. Next day, however, the British cavalry had their revenge; nine Natal Carbineers lay in ambush near the bodies of the slain Hussars, and, when a small party of Boers approached to plunder the dead, fired on them, killing or wounding four. [Illustration: THE GUN OF THE 66TH BATTERY WHICH WAS SAVED BY CAPT. SCHOFIELD AND LIEUT. ROBERTS (see page 99).] [Illustration: [_Photo by Cribb._ SIGHTING THE 4·7 NAVAL GUN. This photograph gives some idea of the great length of the weapon, which accounts in no small measure for the accuracy of its fire.]