ger British force came
up next day, and the enemy were driven out of the hills.

A week later, upon February 18th, there occurred another skirmish at
Klippan, near Springs, between a squadron of the Scots Greys and a party
of Boers who had broken into this central reserve which Lord Kitchener
had long kept clear of the enemy. In this action the cavalry were
treated as roughly as the mounted infantry had been the week before,
losing three officers killed, eight men killed or wounded, and forty-six
taken. They had formed a flanking party to General Gilbert Hamilton's
column, but were attacked and overwhelmed so rapidly that the blow had
fallen before their comrades could come to their assistance.

One of the consequences of the successful drives about to be described
in the Orange River Colony was that a number of the Free Staters came
north of the Vaal in order to get away from the extreme pressure upon
the south. At the end of March a considerable number had reinforced the
local commandos in that district to the east of Springs, no very great
distance from Johannesburg, which had always been a storm centre. A
cavalry force was stationed at this spot which consisted at that time
of the 2nd Queen's Bays, the 7th Hussars, and some National Scouts, all
under Colonel Lawley of the Hussars. After a series of minor engagements
east of Springs, Lawley had possessed himself of Boschman's Kop,
eighteen miles from that town, close to the district which was the chief
scene of Boer activity. From this base he despatched upon the morning
of April 1st three squadrons of the Bays under Colonel Fanshawe, for the
purpose of surprising a small force of the enemy which was reported at
one of the farms. Fanshawe's strength was about three hundred men.

The British cavalry found themselves, however, in the position of the
hunter who, when he is out for a snipe, puts up a tiger. All went well
with the expedition as far as Holspruit, the farm which they had started
to search. Commandant Pretorius, to whom it belonged, was taken by the
energy of Major Vaughan, who pursued and overtook his Cape cart. It was
found, however, that Alberts's commando was camped at the farm, and that
the Bays were in the presence of a very superior force of the enemy. The
night was dark, and when firing began it was almost muzzle to muzzle,
with the greatest possible difficulty in telling friend from foe. The
three squadrons fell back upon some rising ground, keepin