expense a monument over the grave of his fallen enemy. On the stone is
engraved this inscription:--

[cross]
A LA MEMOIRE
DU COMTE DE VILLEBOIS DE MAREUIL
ANCIEN COLONEL
DE LA LEGION ETRANGERE
EN FRANCE
GENERAL DU TRANSVAAL
MORT AU CHAMP D'HONNEUR
PRES DE BOSHOF
LE 5 AVRIL, 1900
DANS SA 53eme ANNEE

R.I.P.

XV

AN ELUSIVE ENEMY

In spite of their former experiences the troops under Lord Methuen were
in some danger of forgetting the sterner realities of warfare, and of
mistaking for them the mere physical discomforts incidental to life
afield in rough weather. The camp at Zwaartzkopjesfontein--the highest
point of land within a large area--was scattered amongst rocks and
boulders piled high into an island ridge rising from the plain; and
amongst the rocks and ferns one found here and there a piece of lawn
(long untrodden by any feet but those of goats) large enough to picket
one's horses and pitch one's tent upon. Eastward the plain stretched to
the horizon, as level as the sea; indeed, in a landscape so monotonous
that one was fain to decorate it with fancies, it stood for the sea, and
touched the rocky base of our island as the sea washes many a mile of
bluff coast. Winter was setting in, and all day long wreaths of mist and
banks of rain came blowing from the eastward (the seaward, as we called
it), and shrouded the brown rock. The signallers on the height used to
wrap themselves in their oilskins as darkness fell and lamps took the
place of flags and spy-glasses; in the dark gusty hours we heard the
"all's well" of a sentry as the visiting patrol went by, much as one
hears the cry of the watch on board ship; and down below, the
mimosa-trees sighed like surges against the foot of the rock.

The ten days spent there by the troops were marked by only two
expeditions against the invisible enemy, neither of which achieved
anything but a nominal result. One was under Colonel Mahon, and repaired
the telegraph line in the neighbourhood of Modder River; it was intended
to patrol as far as Klip Drift, but the rain made the veldt impassable
for waggons. Certainly the line was repaired, but, as the