another from Lydenburg might form the two crooked claws
of a crab to enclose a great space of country, in which smaller
columns might collect whatever was to be found. Without an instant of
unnecessary delay the dispositions were made, and no fewer than eight
columns slipped upon the chase. It will be best to continue to follow
the movements of Plumer's force, and then to give some account of the
little armies which were operating from the south, with the results of
their enterprise.

It was known that Viljoen and a number of Boers were within the district
which lies north of the line in the Middelburg district. An impenetrable
bush-veld had offered them a shelter from which they made their constant
sallies to wreck a train or to attack a post. This area was now to be
systematically cleared up. The first thing was to stop the northern line
of retreat. The Oliphant River forms a loop in that direction, and as it
is a considerable stream, it would, if securely held, prevent any escape
upon that side. With this object Plumer, on April 14th, the sixth day
after his occupation of Pietersburg, struck east from that town and
trekked over the veld, through the formidable Chunies Pass, and so
to the north bank of the Oliphant, picking up thirty or forty Boer
prisoners upon the way. His route lay through a fertile country dotted
with native kraals. Having reached the river which marked the line which
he was to hold, Plumer, upon April 17th, spread his force over many
miles, so as to block the principal drifts. The flashes of his helio
were answered by flash after flash from many points upon the southern
horizon. What these other forces were, and whence they came, must now be
made clear to the reader.

General Bindon Blood, a successful soldier, had confirmed in the
Transvaal a reputation which he had won on the northern frontier of
India. He and General Elliot were two of the late comers who had been
spared from the great Eastern dependency to take the places of some of
those Generals who had returned to England for a well-earned rest. He
had distinguished himself by his systematic and effective guardianship
of the Delagoa railway line, and he was now selected for the supreme
control of the columns which were to advance from the south and sweep
the Roos-Senekal district. There were seven of them, which were arranged
as follows:

Two columns started from Middelburg under Beatson and Benson, which
might be called the left wings