berg, where over a hundred Royal
Engineers were engaged upon a bridge. They were protected by three
hundred Dublin Fusiliers under Major English. For some hours the little
party was hard pressed by the burghers, who had two field-pieces and a
pom-pom. They could make no impression, however, upon the steady
Irish infantry, and after some hours the arrival of General Hart with
reinforcements scattered the assailants, who succeeded in getting their
guns away in safety.

At the beginning of August it must be confessed that the general
situation in the Transvaal was not reassuring. Springs near Johannesburg
had in some inexplicable way, without fighting, fallen into the hands
of the enemy. Klerksdorp, an important place in the south-west, had also
been reoccupied, and a handful of men who garrisoned it had been made
prisoners without resistance. Rustenburg was about to be abandoned, and
the British were known to be falling back from Zeerust and Otto's Hoop,
concentrating upon Mafeking. The sequel proved however, that there was
no cause for uneasiness in all this. Lord Roberts was concentrating his
strength upon those objects which were vital, and letting the others
drift for a time. At present the two obviously important things were
to hunt down De Wet and to scatter the main Boer army under Botha. The
latter enterprise must wait upon the former, so for a fortnight all
operations were in abeyance while the flying columns of the British
endeavoured to run down their extremely active and energetic antagonist.

At the end of July De Wet had taken refuge in some exceedingly difficult
country near Reitzburg, seven miles south of the Vaal River. The
operations were proceeding vigorously at that time against the main army
at Fouriesberg, and sufficient troops could not be spared to attack him,
but he was closely observed by Kitchener and Broadwood with a force of
cavalry and mounted infantry. With the surrender of Prinsloo a large
army was disengaged, and it was obvious that if De Wet remained where he
was he must soon be surrounded. On the other hand, there was no place of
refuge to the south of him. With great audacity he determined to make
a dash for the Transvaal, in the hope of joining hands with De la Rey's
force, or else of making his way across the north of Pretoria, and
so reaching Botha's army. President Steyn went with him, and a most
singular experience it must have been for him to be harried like a mad
dog through the