eleven o'clock before
Each man carried three days ' provisions ; they tramped along silently through the night ; stoppages by swollen streams were frequent , and by daybreak the next morning they had only accomplished nine miles of their journey . Early in the morning the townspeople had woke up to the fact that the army had gone , and there was a general exodus of all who could obtain conveyances . The Boers remained for some time in ignorance that the force whose capture or destruction they had regarded as certain had slipped away . They saw the tents , but the fact that neither men nor horses were visible puzzled them , and it was eleven o'clock before some of the more venturesome galloping down found that the English force had escaped . Then from all sides they poured into the town . Had they at once pursued they might still have overtaken the retreating force before nightfall ; but they immediately set to work to loot the great stores of provisions left behind , and to gather their pickings from the deserted houses of Dundee , and so let slip their opportunity , and no pursuit whatever was attempted . For four days the column continued its march , resting for a few hours each day and usually marching all night .