the
enemy,' said Sir George, 'made it necessary for me to occupy a very
large area of ground, and I had to extend my lines accordingly. My lines
are now nearly fourteen miles in circumference. If I had taken up a
smaller position we should have been pounded to death.'

He said that the fact that they had plenty of room alone enabled them to
live, for the shell fire was thus spread over a large area, and, as it
were, diluted. Besides this the cattle were enabled to find grazing, but
these extended lines were also a source of weakness. At one time on
several sections of the defences the garrison could only provide two
hundred men to the mile.

'That is scarcely the prescribed proportion. I would like to have
occupied Bulwana, in which case we should have been quite comfortable,
but I did not dare extend my lines any further. It was better to endure
the bombardment than to run the risk of being stormed. Because my lines
were so extended I was compelled to keep all the cavalry in Ladysmith.'

Until they began to eat instead of feed the horses this powerful mounted
force, upwards of three thousand strong, had been his mobile, almost his
only reserve. Used in conjunction with an elaborate system of telephones
the cavalry from their central position could powerfully reinforce any
threatened section.

The value of this was proved on January 6. The General thought that the
fierce assault delivered by the enemy on that day vindicated his policy
in not occupying Bulwana and in keeping his cavalry within the town, on
both of which points he had been much criticised.

He spoke with some bitterness of the attacks which had been made on him
in the newspapers. He had always begged that the relieving operations
should not be compromised by any hurry on his account, and he said,
with earnestness, 'It is not fair to charge me with all the loss of life
they have involved.' He concluded by saying, deliberately: 'I regret
Nicholson's Nek; perhaps I was rash then, but it was my only chance of
striking a heavy blow. I regret nothing else. It may be that I am an
obstinate man to say so, but if I had the last five months to live over
again I would not--with that exception---do otherwise than I have done.'

And then I came away and thought of the cheers of the relieving troops.
Never before had I heard soldiers cheer like that. There was not much
doubt about the verdict of the army on Sir George White's conduct of the
defence, and it is on