Boers at the river,
for that was their only line of retreat. As it was, he came in time to
chase them; and when we heard of him again he was in full cry on the
road to Bloemfontein.

It was a strange engagement; an almost bloodless battle; a great
spectacle like an Aldershot Field Day; a demonstration of forces far
stronger than the mere force of arms--confidence on the one hand, and on
the other demoralisation and a broken spirit.

X

THE MARCH ON DREIFONTEIN

Early on the morning after the Osfontein engagement the army was again
upon the march, and towards afternoon reached a farm called Poplar
Grove, the point on which our left flank had rested on the day before.
That was only a ten-mile journey, but men and beasts were tired, and a
longer distance would have tried them severely. We rested a whole day at
Poplar Grove, and many of us bathed in the river. It is strange indeed
to find how comparative are all our standards of luxury; on that day you
could have seen what Mr. Dooley might call the "flowers of the British
aristocracy" splashing and rejoicing in filthy, muddy water beside
Kaffirs and drinking mules; and no one who bathed on that day, after
many days of wearing the same clothes and being impregnated with sand
and sun, is likely to forget the luxury of the bath.

The discomforts of a hurried march are many, and the feeling of
uncleanness is not the least of them; yet one recalls with pleasure the
long days spent dozing along on one's horse at the head of a marching
column that stretched seven miles over the plain and hills behind. Let
me try to describe some of the circumstances of the march from Poplar
Grove to Dreifontein. It must be remembered that these are but the names
of farms, and that a farm means often nothing more than a mud house, a
few trees, and a well of water.

Long before it was light we were awakened by the cries of Kaffirs
collecting their ox teams and by the almost human complaints of many
mules; and while we breakfasted by lamplight in the dim grove where our
camp was pitched a stream of transport was already flowing out of the
mass surrounding us on all sides. We started later, when the line along
the east, crimson at first, had changed from saffron to bright gold, and
the head of the column was already out of sight, melting towards the
sunrise in a cloud of dust. The mounted infantry brigade, which
furnished the patrols and screens, was already away scouring the plain
in