The New Zealanders had heard the noise of the Boer multitude for some time and were alert. The sentries had heard the “lowing of cattle, the rumbling of wagons and the voices of women” and roused the men who were sleeping after a good meal of roast sheep. The Boers in the donga, the bed of the Holspruit managed to get in behind the line while the rest of the force rushed one of the pickets. Ross and Manie Botha and their men now turned left and advanced along the line of trenches in a half-circle. The New Zealanders were concerned about hitting their own men if they fired along the trench line but soon put up a stout resistance although under fire from all sides. “The fire was something terrific. Bullets! They were just like hail stones falling on cabbage leaves” wrote Trooper Lytton Ditely from the hospital in Harrismith where he was taken after the fight.