en with him than when he entered the Colony.
Several hundreds had been taken prisoners, many had deserted, and a
few had been killed. It was hoped now that the whole force might be
captured, and Thorneycroft's, Crabbe's, Henniker's, and other columns
were closing swiftly in upon him, while the swollen river still barred
his retreat. There was a sudden drop in the flood, however; one ford
became passable, and over it, upon the last day of February, De Wet and
his bedraggled, dispirited commando escaped to their own country. There
was still a sting in his tail, however; for upon that very day a portion
of his force succeeded in capturing sixty and killing or wounding twenty
of Colenbrander's new regiment, Kitchener's Fighting Scouts. On the
other hand, De Wet was finally relieved upon the same day of all care
upon the score of his guns, as the last of them was most gallantly
captured by Captain Dallimore and fifteen Victorians, who at the same
time brought in thirty-three Boer prisoners. The net result of De
Wet's invasion was that he gained nothing, and that he lost about four
thousand horses, all his guns, all his convoy, and some three hundred of
his men.

Once safely in his own country again, the guerilla chief pursued his way
northwards with his usual celerity and success. The moment that it
was certain that De Wet had escaped, the indefatigable Plumer, wiry,
tenacious man, had been sent off by train to Springfontein, while
Bethune's column followed direct. This latter force crossed the Orange
River bridge and marched upon Luckhoff and Fauresmith. At the latter
town they overtook Plumer, who was again hard upon the heels of De Wet.
Together they ran him across the Riet River and north to Petrusburg,
until they gave it up as hopeless upon finding that, with only fifty
followers, he had crossed the Modder River at Abram's Kraal. There they
abandoned the chase and fell back upon Bloemfontein to refit and prepare
for a fresh effort to run down their elusive enemy.

While Plumer and Bethune were following upon the track of De Wet until
he left them behind at the Modder, Lyttelton was using the numerous
columns which were ready to his hand in effecting a drive up the
south-eastern section of the Orange River Colony. It was disheartening
to remember that all this large stretch of country had from April to
November been as peaceful and almost as prosperous as Kent or Yorkshire.
Now the intrusion of the guerilla bands, and t