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Another trench faced them, but it was weakly held and
abandoned. Then the men, uncertain what remained beyond, halted and
waited for full light to see where they were, and what the work was
which lay before them--a fatal halt, as the result proved, and yet
one so natural that it is hard to blame the officer who ordered it.
Indeed, he might have seemed more culpable had he pushed blindly
on, and so lost the advantage which had been already gained.
About eight o'clock, with the clearing of the mist, General
Woodgate saw how matters stood. The ridge, one end of which he
held, extended away, rising and falling for some miles. Had he the
whole of the end plateau, and had he guns, he might hope to command
the rest of the position. But he held only half the plateau, and at
the further end of it the Boers were strongly entrenched. The Spion
Kop mountain was really the salient or sharp angle of the Boer
position, so that the British were exposed to a cross fire both
from the left and right. Beyond were other eminences which
sheltered strings of riflemen and several guns.


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