understated their real force, but it is possible that their strength in this quarter did not exceed 4,000. [Sidenote: The storming force.] At six in the evening the storming force paraded. It was composed of eight companies of the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, six companies of the 2nd Royal Lancaster, two companies of the 1st South Lancashire, 190 dismounted men of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, and half of the 17th Company of Royal Engineers--in all about 1,800 men. The officers--General Woodgate himself--carried rifles. The orders were the usual ones for night attack--no firing, but attack with the bayonet. The night was favourable--intensely dark with a fine rain--but if this concealed the approach of the forlorn hope from the enemy, it added greatly to the difficulty of climbing the precipitous mountain. Before the foot of the height was reached it was 10 o'clock. The ground traversed up to this point had been rough in the extreme, steep hillocks alternating with deep-cut watercourses and mimosa copses. Over these the men blundered in the dark, taking every precaution to hide their movements from the Boers. Smoking and talking were forbidden; the little force picked its way in silence. All was still but for the fitful sputtering of the rifle fire exchanged between the outposts, which echoed in the mountain hollows on the left. The cannon on Three Tree Hill were silent; the bivouacs and positions of the two combatant armies were veiled in darkness. Only from Three Tree Hill came the gleam of lanterns--the signals telling the column that all was well. [Illustration: [_Photo by Bassano._ MAJOR-GENERAL WOODGATE. Edward Robert Prevost Woodgate, C.B., C.M.G., was a son of the Rector of Belbroughton, Worcestershire. Born 1845; entered the Army as ensign in the 4th (King's Own Royal Lancaster) regiment in 1865; served with the Abyssinian Expedition against King Theodore, 1868; in the Ashanti War of 1873-74; on the staff in the Zulu War of 1878-9, when he obtained the Brevet of Major; served as staff officer in the West Indies, 1880-5, and as regimental officer in India, 1885-89; promoted Lieut.-Col., 1893; C.B., 1856; and Colonel, 1897; appointed to command the Regimental District of the Kings Own at Lancaster, September, 1897; raised the West African Frontier Regiment in Sierra Leone, and suppressed the native rebellion, 1898-9; invalided home and made C.M.G., and given command of Leicestershire district. In December, 1899, he was appointed to the command of the Ninth Brigade in South Africa; he led the assault on Spion Kop, and was killed while defending the position gained upon that hill, January 24, 1900.] [Sidenote: Ascent of Spion Kop.] [Sidenote: [JAN. 23, 1900.]