ther, and a sputter of rifle fire broke out upon our left
flank, but the great tide swept on and carried them with it. Often in
this desolate land the herds of mottled springbok and of grey rekbok
could be seen sweeping over the plain, or stopping with that curiosity
upon which the hunter trades, to stare at the unwonted spectacle.

So all day they rode, hussars, dragoons, and lancers, over the withered
veld, until men and horses drooped with the heat and the exertion. A
front of nearly two miles was kept, the regiments moving two abreast in
open order; and the sight of this magnificent cloud of horsemen sweeping
over the great barren plain was a glorious one. The veld had caught
fire upon the right, and a black cloud of smoke with a lurid heart to
it covered the flank. The beat of the sun from above and the swelter
of dust from below were overpowering. Gun horses fell in the traces
and died of pure exhaustion. The men, parched and silent, but cheerful,
strained their eyes to pierce the continual mirage which played over the
horizon, and to catch the first glimpse of the Modder. At last, as the
sun began to slope down to the west, a thin line of green was discerned,
the bushes which skirt the banks of that ill-favoured stream. With
renewed heart the cavalry pushed on and made for the drift, while
Major Rimington, to whom the onerous duty of guiding the force had been
entrusted, gave a sigh of relief as he saw that he had indeed struck the
very point at which he had aimed.

The essential thing in the movements had been speed--to reach each point
before the enemy could concentrate to oppose them. Upon this it depended
whether they would find five hundred or five thousand waiting on the
further bank. It must have been with anxious eyes that French watched
his first regiment ride down to Klip Drift. If the Boers should have had
notice of his coming and have transferred some of their 40-pounders, he
might lose heavily before he forced the stream. But this time, at last,
he had completely outmanoeuvred them. He came with the news of his
coming, and Broadwood with the 12th Lancers rushed the drift. The small
Boer force saved itself by flight, and the camp, the wagons, and the
supplies remained with the victors. On the night of the 13th he had
secured the passage of the Modder, and up to the early morning the
horses and the guns were splashing through its coffee-coloured waters.

French's force had now come level to the main p