fire, coming from so formidable a position, that he had to be
content to wait in front of it until some other column should outflank
it. The days of unnecessary frontal attacks were for ever over, and his
force, though ready for anything which might be asked of it, had gone
through a good deal in the recent operations. Since August 21st they had
been under fire almost every day, and their losses, though never great
on any one occasion, amounted in the aggregate during that time to
365. They had crossed the Tugela, they had relieved Ladysmith, they had
forced Laing's Nek, and now it was to them that the honour had fallen of
following the enemy into this last fastness. Whatever criticism may be
directed against some episodes in the Natal campaign, it must never be
forgotten that to Buller and to his men have fallen some of the hardest
tasks of the war, and that these tasks have always in the end been
successfully carried out. The controversy about the unfortunate message
to White, and the memory of the abandoned guns at Colenso, must not
lead us to the injustice of ignoring all that is to be set to the credit
account.

On September 3rd Lord Roberts, finding how strong a position faced
Buller, despatched Ian Hamilton with a force to turn it upon the right.
Brocklehurst's brigade of cavalry joined Hamilton in his advance. On the
4th he was within signalling distance of Buller, and on the right rear
of the Boer position. The occupation of a mountain called Zwaggenhoek
would establish Hamilton firmly, and the difficult task of seizing it
at night was committed to Colonel Douglas and his fine regiment of Royal
Scots. It was Spion Kop over again, but with a happier ending. At
break of day the Boers discovered that their position had been rendered
untenable and withdrew, leaving the road to Lydenburg clear to Buller.
Hamilton and he occupied the town upon the 6th. The Boers had split into
two parties, the larger one with the guns falling back upon Kruger's
Post, and the others retiring to Pilgrim's Rest. Amid cloud-girt peaks
and hardly passable ravines the two long-enduring armies still wrestled
for the final mastery.

To the north-east of Lydenburg, between that town and Spitzkop, there is
a formidable ridge called the Mauchberg, and here again the enemy were
found to be standing at bay. They were even better than their word, for
they had always said that they would make their last stand at Lydenburg,
and now they were makin