attalion, and Major Curry
having been appointed Commandant of Ladysmith, Captain Jacson took over
the duties of Second-in-Command. On March 14th the 7th Brigade marched
to Arcadia, seven miles out of Ladysmith on the Vanreenen's Pass road,
camping on a kopje overlooking Dewdrop Spruit. The men were then
occupied in route marching and generally getting fit.

[Illustration: Brigadier-General Walter Kitchener]

Brigadier-General Walter Kitchener arrived in camp on the 26th March and
took over the command of the 7th Brigade from Colonel Knox, and on April
2nd the battalion, accompanied by General W. Kitchener, marched to
Brakfontein, seventeen miles distant under Spion Kop, stopped there in
camp on the 3rd, when parties of men went off to view the Boer positions
on Spion Kop and Vaal-Krantz, and returned to Arcadia on the 4th.

Innumerable presents were continually arriving from England for the
battalion, and the thanks of all are due especially to Mr. Young of
Torquay for the indefatigable manner in which he worked, and for the
numerous bundles and boxes of presents which he was instrumental in
collecting and dispatching both at this time and also afterwards. All
these presents were highly appreciated.

A draft of 180 men, consisting of reservists, section "D" Militia
Reservists, and recruits joined the battalion on the 7th; amongst these
were 120 married men.

At 11.30 a.m. on April 11th orders were received to move at once into
Ladysmith, which was to be reached at 2 p.m. The reason for the sudden
move was not explained. There was no transport. Out of six wagons, the
complement for a battalion on light field service scale, there were only
two in camp at the time. At Arcadia the battalion, in common with the
rest of the brigade, was allowed tents, and told that it could have
anything it liked to take with it. There was consequently a good deal
more than six carts could carry.

Towards evening, after the tents had been struck, packed, and sent on
ahead, and the battalion was waiting in the open for more wagons, a most
violent thunderstorm came on, lasting about two hours. Ten men of one
company which was holding a work on Rifleman's Ridge, between Arcadia
and Ladysmith, were struck by lightning, none, however, being killed.
The battalion eventually reached camp at Star Hill, just above the iron
bridge outside Ladysmith, at 3 a.m. wet to the skin. It was found that
the tents had arrived. These were pitched and the men