two o'clock
`` Then you do n't think that we are going to fight our way into Ladysmith , Captain Brookfield ? '' `` Not direct into Ladysmith . Possibly we may work our way round ; but after what we saw of the fire from their position , trench above trench , and miles upon miles in length , my own conviction is , that allowing to the utmost for the gallantry and devotion of our men , we shall never win our way across those hills . '' `` Then we move off at two o'clock , sir ? '' `` Yes , fresh batches of waggons are going on , and we are to escort them , and if we reach Springfield by to-morrow night we may think ourselves lucky , for some of the officers who went with the first lot have come back , and say that the roads are simply awful -- there are dongas to be passed where the waggons sink up to their axles -- and that at one point ninety oxen were fastened to a single waggon and could not pull it out from a hole in which it was sunk , and there it would be now if one of the Woolwich traction engines had n't got hold of it and drawn it out . They are doing splendid work , and if the War Office authorities can but take a lesson to heart , the next war we go into we shall have five hundred of them and not a single transport animal . They would cost money , no doubt , but they would eat nothing and drink nothing ; they would only require to be oiled and cleaned occasionally to keep them in order , and when they were wanted they would do the work without our having to hunt the world over for transport animals .