As it happened, this particular ordeal was
exceedingly severe, but nothing can excuse the absolute failure of
the troops concerned to rise to the occasion. Had Methuen's
rearguard consisted of Imperial Light Horse, or Scottish Horse, it
is safe to say that the battle of Tweebosch would have had a very
different ending.
What happened was that a large body of Boers formed up in five
lines and charged straight home at the rear screen and rearguard,
firing from their saddles as they had done at Brakenlaagte. The
sight of those wide-flung lines of determined men galloping over
the plain seems to have been too much for the nerves of the
unseasoned troopers. A panic spread through their ranks, and in an
instant they had turned their horses' heads and were thundering to
their rear, leaving the two guns uncovered and streaming in wild
confusion past the left flank of the jeering infantry who were
lying round the wagons. The limit of their flight seems to have
been the wind of their horses, and most of them never drew rein
until they had placed many miles between themselves and the
comrades whom they had deserted.
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