eeuwberg range to the south of Middelburg,
the Oudtshoorn Mountains in the south, the Cradock district, the
Murraysburg district, and the Graaf-Reinet district--these were the
chief centres of Boer activity.

In April Kritzinger made his way north to the Orange River Colony, for
the purpose of consulting with De Wet, but he returned with a following
of 200 men about the end of May. Continual brushes occurred during this
month between the various columns, and much hard marching was done upon
either side, but there was nothing which could be claimed as a positive
success.

Early in May two passengers sailed for Europe, the journey of each being
in its way historical. The first was the weary and overworked Pro-Consul
who had the foresight to distinguish the danger and the courage to
meet it. Milner's worn face and prematurely grizzled hair told of the
crushing weight which had rested upon him during three eventful years. A
gentle scholar, he might have seemed more fitted for a life of academic
calm than for the stormy part which the discernment of Mr. Chamberlain
had assigned to him. The fine flower of an English university,
low-voiced and urbane, it was difficult to imagine what impression
he would produce upon those rugged types of which South Africa is so
peculiarly prolific. But behind the reserve of a gentleman there lay
within him a lofty sense of duty, a singular clearness of vision, and
a moral courage which would brace him to follow whither his reason
pointed. His visit to England for three months' rest was the
occasion for a striking manifestation of loyalty and regard from his
fellow-countrymen. He returned in August as Lord Milner to the scene of
his labours, with the construction of a united and loyal commonwealth of
South Africa as the task of his life.

The second traveller who sailed within a few days of the Governor was
Mrs. Botha, the wife of the Boer General, who visited Europe for private
as well as political reasons. She bore to Kruger an exact account of the
state of the country and of the desperate condition of the burghers.
Her mission had no immediate or visible effect, and the weary war,
exhausting for the British but fatal for the Boers, went steadily on.

To continue the survey of the operations in the Cape, the first point
scored was by the invaders, for Malan's commando succeeded upon May 13th
in overwhelming a strong patrol of the Midland Mounted Rifles, the local
colonial corps, to the s