a disaster. The
force, only 300 strong, without guns, had walked into an ugly ambuscade,
and only the tenacity and resource of the men enabled them ever to
extricate themselves.

Although Methuen came within reach of Rustenburg, he did not actually
join hands with Baden-Powell. No doubt he saw and heard enough to
convince him that that astute soldier was very well able to take care of
himself. Learning of the existence of a Boer force in his rear,
Methuen turned, and on July 29th he was back at Frederickstad on the
Potchefstroom to Krugersdorp railway. The sudden change in his plans
was caused doubtless by the desire to head off De Wet in case he should
cross the Vaal River. Lord Roberts was still anxious to clear the
neighbourhood of Rustenburg entirely of the enemy; and he therefore,
since Methuen was needed to complete the cordon round De Wet, recalled
Hamilton's force from the east and despatched it, as already described,
to the west of Pretoria.

Before going into the details of the great De Wet hunt, in which
Methuen's force was to be engaged, I shall follow Hamilton's division
across, and give some account of their services. On August 1st he set
out from Pretoria for Rustenburg. On that day and on the next he had
brisk skirmishes which brought him successfully through the Magaliesberg
range with a loss of forty wounded, mostly of the Berkshires. On the 5th
of August he had made his way to Rustenburg and drove off the investing
force. A smaller siege had been going on to westward, where at Elands
River another Mafeking man, Colonel Hore, had been held up by the
burghers. For some days it was feared, and even officially announced,
that the garrison had surrendered. It was known that an attempt by
Carrington to relieve the place on August 5th had been beaten back, and
that the state of the country appeared so threatening that he had been
compelled, or had imagined himself to be compelled, to retreat as far
as Mafeking, evacuating Zeerust and Otto's Hoop, abandoning the
considerable stores which were collected at those places. In spite of
all these sinister indications the garrison was still holding its own,
and on August 16th it was relieved by Lord Kitchener.

This stand at Brakfontein on the Elands River appears to have been one
of the very finest deeds of arms of the war. The Australians have been
so split up during the campaign, that though their valour and efficiency
were universally recognised, they had no