, German, Irish-American, and Russian--all anxious
to make their way home. By the 19th no fewer than seven hundred had
passed over.

At dawn on September 22nd a half-hearted attempt was made by the
commando of Erasmus to attack Elands River Station, but it was beaten
back by the garrison. While it was going on Paget fell upon the camp
which Erasmus had left behind him, and captured his stores. From all
over the country, from Plumer's Bushmen, from Barton at Krugersdorp,
from the Colonials at Heilbron, from Clements on the west, came the same
reports of dwindling resistance and of the abandoning of cattle, arms,
and ammunition.

On September 24th came the last chapter in this phase of the campaign in
the Eastern Transvaal, when at eight in the morning Pole-Carew and his
Guardsmen occupied Komatipoort. They had made desperate marches, one
of them through thick bush, where they went for nineteen miles without
water, but nothing could shake the cheery gallantry of the men. To
them fell the honour, an honour well deserved by their splendid work
throughout the whole campaign, of entering and occupying the ultimate
eastern point which the Boers could hold. Resistance had been threatened
and prepared for, but the grim silent advance of that veteran infantry
took the heart out of the defence. With hardly a shot fired the town
was occupied. The bridge which would enable the troops to receive their
supplies from Lourenco Marques was still intact. General Pienaar and
the greater part of his force, amounting to over two thousand men, had
crossed the frontier and had been taken down to Delagoa Bay, where they
met the respect and attention which brave men in misfortune deserve.
Small bands had slipped away to the north and the south, but they were
insignificant in numbers and depressed in spirit. For the time it seemed
that the campaign was over, but the result showed that there was greater
vitality in the resistance of the burghers and less validity in their
oaths than any one had imagined.

One find of the utmost importance was made at Komatipoort, and at Hector
Spruit on the Crocodile River. That excellent artillery which had
fought so gallant a fight against our own more numerous guns, was found
destroyed and abandoned. Pole-Carew at Komatipoort got one Long Tom
(96-pound) Creusot, and one smaller gun. Ian Hamilton at Hector
Spruit found the remains of many guns, which included two of our horse
artillery twelve-pounders, two la