e sheep,
cattle, and horses, spread confusion amongst the men, and so open up a
chance to re-capture the guns and stores.

But no chances were given, for everything had been arranged, and during
seven days' march West had a fine experience in the manoeuvring of a
cavalry brigade. So, in fact, had the enemy, but theirs was at a bitter
cost.

Finding that the British force would not attack any of the natural
strongholds nor step into any of the traps contrived at river crossings
where the perpendicular banks were filled with trench, pit, and shelter,
but that the carefully-guarded convoy went on slowly towards safety day
after day, the enemy became more daring, changed their tactics, and
gathered together for attacks, getting their guns into action ready for
their own captured artillery to be halted, and with a few well-directed
shots at a tremendously long range to put the carefully planted guns out
of action and compel a rapid retreat.

If they surrounded the convoy in their thousands with knots of mounted
riflemen, there was a rush, a flying cloud of dust kicked up, and away
went half the Horse Artillery battery to one knoll, the other half to
another, and before the intention of the General could be grasped the
shells were falling fast among those knots, bursting and untying them in
an appalling way which littered the dry earth with dead horses and men;
while, whenever a bolder dash than usual was made to capture either of
the half-batteries, the Boers found that, mobile as they were, the
British cavalry could nearly double them in swiftness of evolution, and
Lancers and Hussars cut them up and sent them flying in every direction.

Day after day this went on, with the result that the reinforcements the
enemy received were pretty well balanced by the constant dribbling away
of ambulance wagons loaded with wounded men.

"Isn't it splendid?" Ingleborough kept on saying. "Why, we could go on
journeying like this for months. I like this defensive game! Chess is
nothing to it!"

"So do the Boers like a defensive game!"

"Yes," said Ingleborough, laughing. "Did you hear what one of the Boers
taken said to the officer in command of the prisoners' guard?"

"No. I did not catch it; but I saw our men laughing. What was it?"

"He said our officers did not fight fair, and when our man asked him
what he considered was fair fighting, the scoundrel gave him to
understand that we ought to attack them when they were w