not. A
short account may be given in turn of each separate column.

I would treat first the operations of General Barton, because they form
the best introduction to that narrative of the doings of Christian De
Wet to which this chapter will be devoted.

The most severe operations during the month of October fell to the lot
of this British General, who, with some of the faithful fusiliers whom
he had led from the first days in Natal, was covering the line from
Krugersdorp to Klerksdorp. It is a long stretch, and one which, as the
result shows, is as much within striking distance of the Orange Free
Staters as of the men of the Transvaal. Upon October 5th Barton
left Krugersdorp with a force which consisted of the Scots and Welsh
Fusiliers, five hundred mounted men, the 78th R.F.A., three pom-poms,
and a 4.7 naval gun. For a fortnight, as the small army moved slowly
down the line of the railroad, their progress was one continual
skirmish. On October 6th they brushed the enemy aside in an action in
which the volunteer company of the Scots Fusiliers gained the
applause of their veteran comrades. On the 8th and 9th there was sharp
skirmishing, the brunt of which on the latter date fell upon the Welsh
Fusiliers, who had three officers and eleven men injured. The commandos
of Douthwaite, Liebenberg, and Van der Merwe seem to have been occupied
in harassing the column during their progress through the Gatsrand
range. On the 15th the desultory sniping freshened again into a skirmish
in which the honours and the victory belonged mainly to the Welshmen and
to that very keen and efficient body, the Scottish Yeomanry. Six Boers
were left dead upon the ground. On October 17th the column reached
Frederickstad, where it halted. On that date six of Marshall's Horse
were cut off while collecting supplies. The same evening three hundred
of the Imperial Light Horse came in from Krugersdorp.

Up to this date the Boer forces which dogged the column had been
annoying but not seriously aggressive. On the 19th, however, affairs
took an unexpected turn. The British scouts rode in to report a huge
dust cloud whirling swiftly northwards from the direction of the Vaal
River--soon plainly visible to all, and showing as it drew nearer the
hazy outline of a long column of mounted men. The dark coats of the
riders, and possibly the speed of their advance, showed that they were
Boers, and soon it was rumoured that it was no other than Christian De
Wet