outh of Maraisburg. Six killed, eleven wounded,
and forty-one prisoners were the fruits of his little victory, which
furnished him also with a fresh supply of rifles and ammunition. On May
21st Crabbe's column was in touch with Lotter and with Lategan, but no
very positive result came from the skirmish.

The end of May showed considerable Boer activity in the Cape Colony,
that date corresponding with the return of Kritzinger from the north.
Haig had for the moment driven Scheepers back from the extreme southerly
point which he had reached, and he was now in the Graaf-Reinet district;
but on the other side of the colony Conroy had appeared near Kenhart,
and upon May 23rd he fought a sharp skirmish with a party of Border
Scouts. The main Boer force under Kritzinger was in the midlands,
however, and had concentrated to such an extent in the Cradock district
that it was clear that some larger enterprise was on foot. This soon
took shape, for on June 2nd, after a long and rapid march, the Boer
leader threw himself upon Jamestown, overwhelmed the sixty townsmen who
formed the guard, and looted the town, from which he drew some welcome
supplies and 100 horses. British columns were full cry upon his heels,
however, and the Boers after a few hours left the gutted town and
vanished into the hills once more. On June 6th the British had a little
luck at last, for on that date Scobell and Lukin in the Barkly East
district surprised a laager and took twenty prisoners, 166 horses, and
much of the Jamestown loot. On the same day Windham treated Van
Reenen in a similar rough fashion near Steynsburg, and took twenty-two
prisoners.

On June 8th the supreme command of the operations in Cape Colony was
undertaken by General French, who from this time forward manoeuvred his
numerous columns upon a connected plan with the main idea of pushing the
enemy northwards. It was some time, however, before his disposition
bore fruit, for the commandos were still better mounted and lighter than
their pursuers. On June 13th the youthful and dashing Scheepers, who
commanded his own little force at an age when he would have been a
junior lieutenant of the British army, raided Murraysburg and captured
a patrol. On June 17th Monro with Lovat's Scouts and Bethune's Mounted
Infantry had some slight success near Tarkastad, but three days later
the ill-fated Midland Mounted Rifles were surprised in the early morning
by Kritzinger at Waterkloof, which is thirty