e field, and announced that such perfidy would in future be
severely punished. It was notorious that the same men had been taken and
released more than once. One man killed in action was found to have nine
signed passes in his pocket. It was against such abuses that the extra
severity of the British was aimed.

CHAPTER 29. THE ADVANCE TO KOMATIPOORT.

The time had now come for the great combined movement which was to sweep
the main Boer army off the line of the Delagoa railway, cut its source
of supplies, and follow it into that remote and mountainous Lydenburg
district which had always been proclaimed as the last refuge of the
burghers. Before entering upon this most difficult of all his advances
Lord Roberts waited until the cavalry and mounted infantry were well
mounted again. Then, when all was ready, the first step in this last
stage of the regular campaign was taken by General Buller, who moved his
army of Natal veterans off the railway line and advanced to a position
from which he could threaten the flank and rear of Botha if he held his
ground against Lord Roberts. Buller's cavalry had been reinforced by the
arrival of Strathcona's Horse, a fine body of Canadian troopers,
whose services had been presented to the nation by the public-spirited
nobleman whose name they bore. They were distinguished by their fine
physique, and by the lassoes, cowboy stirrups, and large spurs of the
North-Western plains.

It was in the first week of July that Clery joined hands with the
Heidelberg garrison, while Coke with the 10th Brigade cleared the right
flank of the railway by an expedition as far as Amersfoort. On July 6th
the Natal communications were restored, and on the 7th Buller was able
to come through to Pretoria and confer with the Commander-in-Chief. A
Boer force with heavy guns still hung about the line, and several small
skirmishes were fought between Vlakfontein and Greylingstad in order
to drive it away. By the middle of July the immediate vicinity of the
railway was clear save for some small marauding parties who endeavoured
to tamper with the rails and the bridges. Up to the end of the month the
whole of the Natal army remained strung along the line of communications
from Heidelberg to Standerton, waiting for the collection of forage and
transport to enable them to march north against Botha's position.

On August 8th Buller's troops advanced to the north-east from Paardekop,
pushing a weak Boer force with f