mission--with his present forces--was to prevent the further advance of
the enemy into the Colony, but he was not strong enough yet to make a
serious attempt to drive them out.

Before the move to Arundel on December 13th his detachment had increased
in size, and consisted largely of mounted men, so that it attained a
mobility very unusual for a British force. On December 13th there was
an attempt upon the part of the Boers to advance south, which was easily
held by the British Cavalry and Horse Artillery. The country over which
French was operating is dotted with those singular kopjes which the Boer
loves--kopjes which are often so grotesque in shape that one feels as
if they must be due to some error of refraction when one looks at them.
But, on the other hand, between these hills there lie wide stretches
of the green or russet savanna, the noblest field that a horseman or
a horse gunner could wish. The riflemen clung to the hills, French's
troopers circled warily upon the plain, gradually contracting the Boer
position by threatening to cut off this or that outlying kopje, and so
the enemy was slowly herded into Colesberg. The small but mobile British
force covered a very large area, and hardly a day passed that one
or other part of it did not come in contact with the enemy. With
one regiment of infantry (the Berkshires) to hold the centre, his
hard-riding Tasmanians, New Zealanders, and Australians, with the Scots
Greys, the Inniskillings, and the Carabineers, formed an elastic
but impenetrable screen to cover the Colony. They were aided by two
batteries, O and R, of Horse Artillery. Every day General French rode
out and made a close personal examination of the enemy's position, while
his scouts and outposts were instructed to maintain the closest possible
touch.

On December 30th the enemy abandoned Rensburg, which had been their
advanced post, and concentrated at Colesberg, upon which French moved
his force up and seized Rensburg. The very next day, December 31st,
he began a vigorous and long-continued series of operations. At five
o'clock on Sunday evening he moved out of Rensburg camp, with R and
half of O batteries R.H.A., the 10th Hussars, the Inniskillings, and the
Berkshires, to take up a position on the west of Colesberg. At the same
time Colonel Porter, with the half-battery of O, his own regiment (the
Carabineers), and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, left camp at two on
the Monday morning and took a posi