miles west of Cradock,
and were badly mauled by him. They lost ten killed, eleven wounded,
and sixty-six prisoners in this unfortunate affair. Again the myth that
colonial alertness is greater than that of regular troops seems to have
been exposed.

At the end of June, Fouche, one of the most enterprising of the guerilla
chiefs, made a dash from Barkly East into the native reserves of the
Transkei in order to obtain horses and supplies. It was a desperate
measure, as it was vain to suppose that the warlike Kaffirs would permit
their property to be looted without resistance, and if once the assegais
were reddened no man could say how far the mischief might go. With great
loyalty the British Government, even in the darkest days, had held back
those martial races--Zulus, Swazis, and Basutos--who all had old grudges
against the Amaboon. Fouche's raid was stopped, however, before it led
to serious trouble. A handful of Griqualand Mounted Rifles held it in
front, while Dalgety and his colonial veterans moving very swiftly drove
him back northwards.

Though baulked, Fouche was still formidable, and on July 14th he made
a strong attack in the neighbourhood of Jamestown upon a column of
Connaught Rangers who were escorting a convoy. Major Moore offered a
determined resistance, and eventually after some hours of fighting drove
the enemy away and captured their laager. Seven killed and seventeen
wounded were the British losses in this spirited engagement.

On July 10th General French, surveying from a lofty mountain peak the
vast expanse of the field of operations, with his heliograph calling up
responsive twinkles over one hundred miles of country, gave the order
for the convergence of four columns upon the valley in which he knew
Scheepers to be lurking. We have it from one of his own letters that
his commando at the time consisted of 240 men, of whom forty were Free
Staters and the rest colonial rebels. Crewe, Windham, Doran, and Scobell
each answered to the call, but the young leader was a man of resource,
and a long kloof up the precipitous side of the hill gave him a road to
safety. Yet the operations showed a new mobility in the British columns,
which shed their guns and their baggage in order to travel faster. The
main commando escaped, but twenty-five laggards were taken. The action
took place among the hills thirty miles to the west of Graaf-Reinet.

On July 21st Crabbe and Kritzinger had a skirmish in the mountains