similar
attack upon a smaller scale was being made upon Fort Prospect, some
fifteen miles to the eastward. This small post was held by a handful
of Durham Artillery Militia and of Dorsets. The attack was delivered by
Grobler with several hundred burghers, but it made no advance although
it was pushed with great vigour, and repeated many times in the course
of the day. Captain Rowley, who was in command, handled his men
with such judgment that one killed and eight wounded represented his
casualties during a long day's fighting. Here again the Boer losses were
in proportion to the resolution of their attack, and are said to have
amounted to sixty killed and wounded. Considering the impossibility
of replacing the men, and the fruitless waste of valuable ammunition,
September 26th was an evil day for the Boer cause. The British
casualties amounted to seventy-three.

The water of the garrison of Fort Itala had been cut off early in the
attack, and their ammunition had run low by evening. Chapman withdrew
his men and his guns therefore to Nkandhla, where the survivors of his
gallant garrison received the special thanks of Lord Kitchener. The
country around was still swarming with Boers, and on the last day of
September a convoy from Melmoth fell into their hands and provided them
with some badly needed supplies.

But the check which he had received was sufficient to prevent any
important advance upon the part of Botha, while the swollen state of
the rivers put an additional obstacle in his way. Already the British
commanders, delighted to have at last discovered a definite objective,
were hurrying to the scene of action. Bruce Hamilton had reached Fort
Itala upon September 28th and Walter Kitchener had been despatched to
Vryheid. Two British forces, aided by smaller columns, were endeavouring
to surround the Boer leader. On October 6th Botha had fallen back to the
north-east of Vryheid, whither the British forces had followed him. Like
De Wet's invasion of the Cape, Botha's advance upon Natal had ended in
placing himself and his army in a critical position. On October 9th he
had succeeded in crossing the Privaan River, a branch of the Pongolo,
and was pushing north in the direction of Piet Retief, much helped by
misty weather and incessant rain. Some of his force escaped between the
British columns, and some remained in the kloofs and forests of that
difficult country.

Walter Kitchener, who had followed up the Boer retre