three o'clock
The infantry marched along some ridges parallel with the railway , but a mile away , while the Devonshire regiment kept along the low ground by the line . The 5th Dragoon Guards , with some troops of Colonials and one of the field batteries , moved forward on the left . The Manchesters were on the right of the infantry , the Gordons in the centre , and the Devons on the left , as they set their faces towards the Boer position . At three o'clock the action began , the Boer riflemen opening a heavy fire . It was still too distant , however , to do any serious execution , and the British moved forward as regularly and unconcernedly as if it had been a field day . The Boer fire grew in intensity , and one of our batteries opened with shrapnel to drive them from the lower ridges . At half-past three the Boer artillery joined their deeper roar to the rattle of musketry and the sharp cracks of the British guns .