of his main advance. Being reinforced
upon the morning after the capture of the Waterworks by the Highland
Brigade, the Cornwalls, and two heavy naval guns, his whole force
amounted to not less than seven thousand men. From these he detached a
garrison for the Waterworks, and with the rest he continued his march
over the hilly country which lies between them and Thabanchu.

One position, Israel's Poort, a nek between two hills, was held against
them on April 25th, but was gained without much trouble, the Canadians
losing one killed and two wounded. Colonel Otter, their gallant leader,
was one of the latter, while Marshall's Horse, a colonial corps raised
in Grahamstown, had no fewer than seven of their officers and several
men killed or wounded. Next morning the town of Thabanchu was seized,
and Hamilton found himself upon the direct line of the Boer retreat.
He seized the pass which commands the road, and all next day he waited
eagerly, and the hearts of his men beat high when at last they saw a
long trail of dust winding up to them from the south. At last the wily
De Wet had been headed off! Deep and earnest were the curses when out of
the dust there emerged a khaki column of horsemen, and it was realised
that this was French's pursuing force, closely followed by Rundle's
infantry from Dewetsdorp. The Boers had slipped round and were already
to the north of us.

It is impossible to withhold our admiration for the way in which the
Boer force was manoeuvred throughout this portion of the campaign. The
mixture of circumspection and audacity, the way in which French and
Rundle were hindered until the Wepener force had disengaged itself, the
manner in which these covering forces were then withdrawn, and finally
the clever way in which they all slipped past Hamilton, make a brilliant
bit of strategy. Louis Botha, the generalissimo, held all the strings in
his hand, and the way in which he pulled them showed that his countrymen
had chosen the right man for that high office, and that his was a master
spirit even among those fine natural warriors who led the separate
commandos.

Having got to the north of the British forces Botha made no effort to
get away, and refused to be hustled by a reconnaissance developing into
an attack, which French made upon April 27th. In a skirmish the night
before Kitchener's Horse had lost fourteen men, and the action of the
27th cost us about as many casualties. It served to show that the
Boe