News so disquieting proved the need for the most determined effort--even for the presence of General Warren in person upon the mountain, when all doubts as to who was in command would have been set at rest, and the dispirited troops reassured by the presence of their real leader. Instead of going, General Warren signalled to General Coke to withdraw all but two battalions from the summit, placing the men thus withdrawn under what shelter the southern slope afforded, and directed General Coke to come in person and confer with him. General Coke, unaware that Colonel Thorneycroft had been appointed to command, handed over his charge to Colonel Hill of the 2nd Middlesex, as Colonel Crofton, the next officer in point of seniority, had already been wounded. Thus was confusion worse confounded, and the uncertainty as to who was really in command further increased. There was no one in authority; no officer of high rank was there to reorganise the defence and cheer the men; no general to think of the future as well as of the moment. Colonel Thorneycroft, who was actually directing the fighting line, where his conduct was superb, could spare not a moment from the vehemence of the conflict. Worst of all, he did not know that at last guns and sandbags were coming up, with a large number of engineers to complete the entrenchments. [Illustration: [_Photo by Sir W. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co._ 7-POUNDER MOUNTAIN GUN. Showing how the gun itself takes to pieces. The wheels can also be quickly taken off the carriage for transportation, as shown in the illustration on page 249.] [Illustration: [_Photo by Miell & Ridley, Bournemouth._ SOME OF THE WOUNDED FROM SPION KOP AND COLENSO. Photographed on their return to England.] [Illustration: _A. Forestier._] [_After a sketch by Fred. Villiers._ DAWN ON SPION KOP: SORTING THE LIVING FROM THE DEAD.] [Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _Victory Hangs in the Balance._]