movement upon Natal to
learn that De la Rey had also made some energetic attack in the western
quarter of the Transvaal. Those who had formed this expectation were not
disappointed, for upon the last day of September the Boer chief struck
fiercely at Kekewich's column in a vigorous night attack, which led to
as stern an encounter as any in the campaign. This was the action at
Moedwill, near Magato Nek, in the Magaliesberg.

When last mentioned De la Rey was in the Marico district, near Zeerust,
where he fought two actions with Methuen in the early part of September.
Thence he made his way to Rustenburg and into the Magaliesberg country,
where he joined Kemp. The Boer force was followed up by two British
columns under Kekewich and Fetherstonhaugh. The former commander
had camped upon the night of Sunday, September 30th, at the farm of
Moedwill, in a strong position within a triangle formed by the Selous
River on the west, a donga on the east, and the Zeerust-Rustenburg road
as a base. The apex of the triangle pointed north, with a ridge on the
farther side of the river.

The men with Kekewich were for the most part the same as those who
had fought in the Vlakfontein engagement--the Derbys, the 1st Scottish
Horse, the Yeomanry, and the 28th R.F.A. Every precaution appears to
have been taken by the leader, and his pickets were thrown out so far
that ample warning was assured of an attack. The Boer onslaught came
so suddenly and fiercely, however, in the early morning, that the posts
upon the river bank were driven in or destroyed and the riflemen from
the ridge on the farther side were able to sweep the camp with their
fire. In numbers the two forces were not unequal, but the Boers had
already obtained the tactical advantage, and were playing a game in
which they are the schoolmasters of the world. Never has the British
spirit flamed up more fiercely, and from the commander to the latest
yeoman recruit there was not a man who flinched from a difficult and
almost a desperate task. The Boers must at all hazard be driven from the
position which enabled them to command the camp. No retreat was possible
without such an abandonment of stores as would amount to a disaster. In
the confusion and the uncertain light of early dawn there was no chance
of a concerted movement, though Kekewich made such dispositions as were
possible with admirable coolness and promptness. Squadrons and companies
closed in upon the river bank with the o