iver bank,
a place pretty to look at but horrible to be near. The only water to
drink was that from a well by the river--water of a dark and strange
colour; and even while one drank it one sat and watched the carcases of
horses floating down the brown stream from the deserted Boer laager a
mile above. For Cronje and his men had surrendered, not only because of
losses or lack of ammunition, but chiefly, it was said, because the same
conditions that made our camp almost unbearable made his laager in the
river-bed impossible for human accommodation. So he surrendered, after a
resistance that will live in history as one of the bravest pieces of
human endurance.

On my way down I had met a great company of men moving over the plain
surrounded by mounted infantry. These were our prisoners--a noble bag of
more than four thousand. But now that they had gone there was no reason
why the camp should be maintained at Paardeberg, and at noon we
proceeded to thread our way eastward--a long procession of men and
horses and waggons--to the farm of Osfontein, where the force was being
concentrated for the final advance. The delay was fortunate for the
correspondents, for those of us who had only a scanty stock of
provisions and forage could send our carts back once more to Modder for
a supply. In the meantime nothing was likely to happen until a
fortnight's stock of provisions and forage for the army had been
collected.

Before leaving Paardeberg, and in the intervals of arranging the mere
details of living--which on this line of advance were harassing and
formidable--I rode over to the deserted Boer laager, or as near to it as
was safe. The scene was strange and significant. Imagine the river, deep
down between steep terraced banks, flowing through the level plain. On
the left side our position, well entrenched, with a few kopjes about two
thousand yards from the bank. On the right was the enemy's position,
which extended further down the banks of the river and up to the very
edge of our side. On the far bank I saw a line of hundreds of transport
waggons and carts, all empty, many of them smashed and broken by our
shell fire. But it was the river-bed itself that was most interesting.
The water was very low, and there was any amount of cover on the steep
banks, and this was increased by a number of small pits or trenches--not
long trenches like ours, but simple little holes or graves dug in the
banks, with room enough for a couple of