A week later, on 1 November, 2,000 Matabele riflemen and 4,000 warriors attacked Forbes at Bembesi, about north-east of Bulawayo, but again they were no match for the crushing firepower of the major's Maxims: about 2,500 more Matabele were killed. Lobengula fled Bulawayo as soon as he heard the news from Bembesi; in keeping with traditional custom, he and his subjects torched the royal town as they went. In the resultant conflagration, the city's large store of ivory, gold and other treasure was destroyed, and its ammunition magazine exploded. The flames were still rising when the British marched into the settlement the next day; they set up base in the "White Man's Camp" already present, and nailed the company flag and the Union Jack to a tree. The reconstruction of Bulawayo began almost as soon as the fires were out, with a new Company-run city rising atop the ruins of Lobengula's former residence.