THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN.

MAGERSFONTEIN.

The Australians, after relieving Belmont from the Boer commando, suddenly received orders to march upon Enslin, as the Boers had attacked that place, which was held by two companies of the Northamptonshires under Captain Godley; the latter had no artillery, whilst the enemy, who were over 1,000 strong, had one 12-pounder gun with them, but the sequel proved that the Boer is a poor fighter in the open country.  He is hard to beat in hilly and rocky ground when acting on the defensive, but he is not over dangerous as an attacking power.  Let him choose his ground, and fight according to his own traditions, and the best soldiers in the world will find it no sinecure to oust him.  As soon as the Boers put in an appearance at Enslin, Lieutenant Brierly, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who is attached to the Northamptons, made his way to a kopje, which had formerly been held by Boer forces, and a mere handful of men fairly held the enemy in check at that point for over seven hours.  The enemy made frantic efforts to dislodge this gallant little band, but failed dismally, and they had not the heart to try to take the kopje by storm, though there were enough of them around the hill to have eaten the little band of Britishers.  In the meantime Captain Godley and his men held the township.  Again and again the enemy threatened to rush the place, but their valour melted before the determined front of the besieged, and they drew off, taking their gun with them, their scouts having warned them that the Australians, with a section of the Royal Horse Artillery and two guns, were coming upon them from the direction of Belmont, whilst a body of the 12th Lancers and a battery of artillery were dashing down from Modder River.  The Australians, who are now 720 strong, the New South Wales Company of 125 men having joined Colonel Head’s forces, remained at Enslin, and entrenched there in order to keep open the line of communication between General Methuen’s army and Orange River; a section of Royal Horse Artillery and two guns is with them.  On half a dozen occasions the Boers have threatened to sweep down upon them from the hilly country adjacent, but up to the time of writing nothing serious has occurred.

On Sunday last we heard the sound of heavy firing coming from the direction of Modder River; scouts coming in informed us that an engagement between General Methuen’s force and the enemy, under the astute General Cronje, had commenced.  Seeing that Australia was liable to remain idle for the time being, I determined to push on with my assistant, Mr. E. Monger, of Coolgardie, West Australia.  When we arrived at Modder River we found the fight raging at a spot about four and a half miles beyond Modder River bridge.  Our forces were in possession of the river and the plain beyond; but General Cronje had entrenched himself in a line of ranges stretching for several miles across the veldt.  So well had the Boer general chosen