asks which presented itself
to the inpouring army corps. The obvious base of such a movement must be
Orange River, and there and at De Aar the stores for the advance began
to be accumulated. At the latter place especially, which is the
chief railway junction in the north of the colony, enormous masses of
provisions, ammunition, and fodder were collected, with thousands of
mules which the long arm of the British Government had rounded up from
many parts of the world. The guard over these costly and essential
supplies seems to have been a dangerously weak one. Between Orange River
and De Aar, which are sixty miles apart, there were the 9th Lancers, the
Royal Munsters, the 2nd King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and the
1st Northumberland Fusiliers, under three thousand men in all, with two
million pounds' worth of stores and the Free State frontier within a
ride of them. Verily if we have something to deplore in this war we have
much also to be thankful for.

Up to the end of October the situation was so dangerous that it is
really inexplicable that no advantage was taken of it by the enemy. Our
main force was concentrated to defend the Orange River railway bridge,
which was so essential for our advance upon Kimberley. This left only a
single regiment without guns for the defence of De Aar and the valuable
stores. A fairer mark for a dashing leader and a raid of mounted
riflemen was never seen. The chance passed, however, as so many others
of the Boers' had done. Early in November Colesberg and Naauwpoort were
abandoned by our small detachments, who concentrated at De Aar. The
Berkshires joined the Yorkshire Light Infantry, and nine field guns
arrived also. General Wood worked hard at the fortifying of the
surrounding kopjes, until within a week the place had been made
tolerably secure.

The first collision between the opposing forces at this part of the seat
of war was upon November 10th, when Colonel Gough of the 9th Lancers
made a reconnaissance from Orange River to the north with two squadrons
of his own regiment, the mounted infantry of the Northumberland
Fusiliers, the Royal Munsters, and the North Lancashires, with a battery
of field artillery. To the east of Belmont, about fifteen miles off,
he came on a detachment of the enemy with a gun. To make out the Boer
position the mounted infantry galloped round one of their flanks, and in
doing so passed close to a kopje which was occupied by sharpshooters.
A deadly f