It was now towards three in the morning, and Malherbe’s men had nearly exhausted their ammunition. They sat quietly watching the tail of the column vanish into the darkness beyond, on its way to Ladysmith. When daylight came at last, a grim scene met their eyes. Said Reitz: “Before us, within a radius of less than twenty-five yards, lay over sixty dead and wounded English soldiers, and as we walked forward among them we came upon the bodies of three of our men who had not been with us originally. Two were dead and dreadfully hacked with bayonets and the third was at his last gasp.”
