All went well on this day till about 2.30 p.m., when the following was about the order of march:  One mounted infantryman in advance of the main body next the band; of F company, forty men; of A company, forty men; then followed the quarter-guard, thirteen men; and provost-escort and prisoners, twenty-three men.  The remainder of the force was posted along the string of waggons, with the exception of the rear-guard of about twenty men, which were some distance behind.  Colonel Anstruther, Captains Nairne and Elliott, Lieutenant Hume, and Adjutant Harrison were riding just in front of the band, when suddenly Boers appeared all round.  The locality that the regiment had reached at the time was one where stood several farms, and the trees surrounding these homesteads afforded cover under which a hostile force could assemble without being perceived from a distance.  On the right was a ravine with wood in it, and amongst that the Boers were lying in ambush.  How unexpected was the appearance of a force of Boers to the English may be judged from the fact that the band of the regiment was playing at the time.  Colonel Anstruther, immediately he caught sight of the enemy on the crest of a slight rise to the front, called a halt, and the order was passed to the rear for the waggons to close up.  Before this could be done a messenger from the enemy, carrying a white flag, came forward and handed the Colonel a note signed by Piet Joubert, and countersigned by other Boer leaders, desiring him to halt where he was until a reply had been received from Sir Owen Lanyon to the ultimatum the Boers had addressed to him.  The message also contained the warning that if the soldiers advanced beyond a small stream in front of them, it would be taken as a declaration of war.  Colonel Anstruther, with Conductor Egerton, had ridden out in front of the advanced guard to meet this flag of truce; after he had read the message, the bearer of it informed him verbally that two minutes were allowed for his decision.  Colonel Anstruther verbally replied that he should march on to Pretoria, and, to use his own words, as published in his despatch written just before he died, the Boer messenger ’said that he would take my message to the Commandant-General; and I asked him to let me know the result, to which he nodded assent.  Almost immediately, however, the enemy’s line advanced.’

Whilst this short parley was going on, every effort was being made in the rear to get the waggons up, but without much good result, because when the Boers opened fire the rear-guard would be at least half a mile behind the head of the column.  Even those who were guarding the waggons had not time to join the main body.  When Colonel Anstruther saw the Boers advancing, he gave the order to his men to extend in skirmishing order, but before they could open out to more than loose files they were met with a murderous volley, and at the same time Boers on the right and left flank and in the rear, who had previously measured