The head-quarter companies of the Regiment were engaged on outpost duty at the foot of the pass, where the army had bivouacked, almost all the men being on duty.

On the following day the march was resumed, the head-quarter companies of the Regiment being rear-guard to the force.  The companies on the hill were relieved by two companies of the Regiment under Captain Wren.  The road was extremely bad and crossed by many drifts, which caused considerable delay, and it was not till the early hours of morning that the rear-guard companies got into camp.  The bivouac was formed amongst the hills, some five miles from Pilgrim’s Rest, which had been occupied the previous day by Strathcona’s Horse.

On the 28th the march was continued through Pilgrim’s Rest to the foot of Morgenzon Hill, the mounted troops surprising the Boers on the summit and putting them to flight.

The baggage was safely brought up the six miles of steep hill on the following day.  The road, which was the old coaching highway Pilgrim’s Rest-Lydenburg, was found in excellent condition, but it was heavy work for the oxen, and all wagons were double spanned.  The force camped on the summit, and halted there on the 30th.

A good number of Boers were reported in the vicinity to the west and north, but they did not make their presence felt and Sunday was spent quietly.

On October 1st Morgenzon was left and the march continued towards Kruger’s Post and Lydenburg.  It was a long, dusty road through narrow valleys.  Opposition was encountered at the bifurcation of the Lydenburg-Morgenzon and Lydenburg-Ohrigstadt roads, which, however, was soon overcome, the Boers retiring to the hills out of reach of the guns, and Kruger’s Post was reached at 2 p.m.

Shortly after the Regiment had settled itself in its bivouac a Boer big gun opened on to it from a hill about 6000 yards distant, and not very far from the road.  This gun also shelled the wagons as they came into camp, necessitating their halting under cover and coming in later.  In the evening, about 6.30, the Boers brought another gun into action on a hill due west of the camp, and shelled the cavalry and infantry bivouacs for one and a half hours in the dark.  After several shells had pitched into their midst the Regiment moved out and formed up into two long lines and entrenched.

It was whilst marching out to take up this position in the dark that a shell emptied itself into the head of one company, killing Lieutenant Cumin and severely wounding Captain Luxmoore and one man.  The South African Light Horse and Strathcona’s Horse had a number of casualties amongst their men and horses.

The Boers by a skilful manoeuvre had kept their guns concealed, ready to be brought into action as soon as General Buller’s army had settled itself quietly in its bivouac.  They expended some cartloads of ammunition in this manner without interference.  In the early hours of the following morning a band of volunteers ascended the hill to capture the guns.  They had both been withdrawn and were not traced.