uts of the enemy, reported large forces of British
cavalry sixty and seventy miles distant, but for some inexplicable reason
the British made no attempt to cut off the retreat of the three generals,
and on March 28th they reached Kroonstad, having traversed almost four
hundred miles of territory in the comparatively short time of sixteen
days. Sherman's march to the sea was made under extraordinary conditions,
but the retreat of the three generals was fraught with dangers and
difficulties much greater. Sherman passed through a fertile country, and
had an enemy which was disheartened. The three generals had an enemy
flushed with its first victories, while the country through which they
passed was mountainous and muddy. If the column had been captured so soon
after the Paardeberg disaster, the relief of Kimberley and the relief of
Ladysmith, it might have been so disheartening to the remaining Boer
commandos that the war might have been ended at that time. It was a
magnificent retreat and well worthy to be placed in the Boer's scroll of
honour with Cronje's noble stand at Paardeberg, with Spion Kop and
Magersfontein.

[Illustration: GENERAL GROBLER]

The Boer army was capable of moving rapidly under almost any
conditions. The British army demonstrated upon many occasions that it
could not move more than two or three miles an hour when the column was
hampered with transport waggons and camping paraphernalia, and frequently
it was impossible to proceed at that pace for many consecutive hours. A
Boer commando easily travelled six miles an hour and not infrequently,
when there was a necessity for rapid motion, seven and even eight miles an
hour were traversed. When General Lucas Meyer moved his commandos along
the border at the outset of the war and learned that General Penn-Symons
was located at Dundee he made a night march of almost forty miles in six
hours and occupied Talana Hill, a mile distant from the enemy, who was
ignorant of the Boers' proximity until the camp was shelled at daybreak.
When General De Wet learned that Colonel Broadwood was moving westward
from Thaba N'Chu on March 30th, he was in laager several miles east of
Brandfort, but it required only several minutes for all the burghers to be
on their horses and ready to proceed toward the enemy. The journey of
twenty-five miles to Sannaspost, or the Bloemfontein waterworks, was made
in the short time of five hours, while Colonel Broadwood's forces consumed
se