s column
was left behind the driving line to be ready for the expected backward
break. All came off exactly as expected. De Wet doubled back through
the columns, and one of his commandos stumbled upon Byng's men, who were
waiting on the Vlei River to the west of Reitz. The Boers seem to have
taken it for granted that, having passed the British driving line, they
were out of danger, and for once it was they who were surprised. The
South African Light Horse, the New Zealanders, and the Queensland
Bushmen all rode in upon them. A fifteen-pounder, the one taken at
Tweefontein, and two pom-poms were captured, with thirty prisoners and a
considerable quantity of stores.

This successful skirmish was a small matter, however, compared to the
importance of being in close touch with De Wet and having a definite
objective for the drive. The columns behind expanded suddenly into a
spray of mounted men forming a continuous line for over sixty miles. On
February 5th the line was advancing, and on the 6th it was known that De
Wet was actually within the angle, the mouth of which was spanned by
the British line. Hope ran high in Pretoria. The space into which
the burgher chief had been driven was bounded by sixty-six miles of
blockhouse and wire on one side and thirty on the other, while the
third side of the triangle was crossed by fifty-five miles of British
horsemen, flanked by a blockhouse line between Kroonstad and Lindley.
The tension along the lines of defence was extreme. Infantry guarded
every yard of them, and armoured trains patrolled them, while at night
searchlights at regular intervals shed their vivid rays over the black
expanse of the veld and illuminated the mounted figures who flitted from
time to time across their narrow belts of light.

On the 6th De Wet realised his position, and with characteristic
audacity and promptness he took means to clear the formidable toils
which had been woven round him. The greater part of his command
scattered, with orders to make their way as best they might out of the
danger. Working in their own country, where every crease and fold of
the ground was familiar to them, it is not surprising that most of
them managed to make their way through gaps in the attenuated line
of horsemen behind them. A few were killed, and a considerable number
taken, 270 being the respectable total of the prisoners. Three or four
slipped through, however, for every one who stuck in the meshes. De Wet
himsel