t a single British
soldier remains on South African soil." A general who can express such a
firm faith in his cause when he sees nothing but disaster surrounding him
is great even if he is not always victorious.

The military godfather of Commandant-General Botha was General Lucas
Meyer, one of the best leaders in the Boer army. The work of the two men
was cast in almost the same lines during the greater part of the campaign,
and many of the Commandant-General's burdens were shared by his old-time
tutor and neighbour in the Vryheid district. Botha seldom undertook a
project unless he first consulted with Meyer, and the two constantly
worked hand-in-hand. Their friends frequently referred to them as Damon
and Pythias, and the parallel was most appropriate, for they were as
nearly the counterparts of those old Grecian warriors as modern
limitations would allow. Botha attained the post of Commandant-General
through the illness of Meyer, who would undoubtedly have been Joubert's
successor if he had not fallen ill at an important period of the campaign,
but the fact that the pupil became the superior officer of the instructor
never strained the amicable relations of the two men.

General Meyer received his fundamental military education from the famous
Zulu chieftain, Dinizulu, in 1884, when he and eight hundred other Boers
assisted the natives in a war against the chieftains of other tribes. In a
battle at Labombo mountain, June 6th of that year, Meyer and Dinizulu
vanquished the enemy, and as payment for their services the Boers each
received a large farm in the district now known as Vryheid. A Government
named the New Republic was organised by the farmers, and Meyer was elected
President, a post which he held for four years, when the Transvaal annexed
the republic to its own territory. In the war of 1881 Meyer took part in
several battles, and at Ingogo he was struck on the head by a piece of
shell, which caused him to be unconscious for forty-two days. In the later
days of the republic General Meyer held various military and civil
positions in the Vryheid district, where his large farm, "Anhouwen," is
located, and was the chairman of the Volksraad which decided to send the
ultimatum to Great Britain.

When war was actually declared, General Meyer, with his commandos, was on
the Transvaal border near his farm, and he opened hostilities by making a
bold dash into Natal and attacking the British army encamped at
Dundee. T