s, and Royal Dublin
Fusiliers, faced the Boer position at Fourteen Streams. Colonel
Mahon's mounted column was to move by Barkley West, and reach Mafeking
by sweeping round the Boer flank.

The battalion accordingly left Doornfield by train at 9 a.m. on May
2nd, and about mid-day reached Content, where it detrained and
encamped. The next day it marched with the Connaught Rangers to a
position about two miles south of Warrenton. The opposite bank of the
Vaal was held by the Boers, who were strongly entrenched and had
field-guns. On the south bank of the Vaal were the Munster Fusiliers,
a battery of field artillery, a six-inch gun mounted on a railway
truck, and a balloon, the whole detachment being under Major-General
Paget.

[Illustration: Taking XIV STREAMS on 7th May 1900 at 9.30 a.m. very
bad ford. _From a sketch by Col. H. Tempest Hicks, C.B._]

As all tents had been left at Content, the regiment bivouacked, and
remained more or less idle. The Munsters were holding Warrenton, and
there was constant sniping between their posts and the Boer trenches.
The balloon ascended daily, and the six-inch gun fired an occasional
shot, while the enemy's field-guns came into action at intervals. It
was a monotonous and unpleasant time for the Connaught Rangers and
ourselves, since there was nothing to do, while it was very hot by day
and cold by night.

[Illustration: The regimental Maxim in Action at Fourteen Streams.]

A little excitement was afforded on May 6th, when the Connaught
Rangers and half the battalion made a demonstration against a drift to
the east of Fourteen Streams. The object apparently was to draw the
Boers' attention from the 6th Brigade, who, after a victory at Rooi
Dam, were moving up the right bank. The movement caused a slight
amount of sniping, and the detachment returned to the bivouac soon
after 2 p.m.

The approach of the 6th Brigade, aided, perhaps, by this
demonstration, caused the enemy to evacuate hurriedly their trenches
during the afternoon of the 6th. Early on the morning of the 7th, the
Connaught Rangers and the right half-battalion started to ford the
Vaal at Warrenton.

The river at this point was broad and swift. The ford was a difficult
one, being beset by rocks and holes, and it took a considerable time
for the column to cross, since the water was up to the men's waists.
The left half-battalion under Major Bird moved one and a half miles up
the river near Fourteen Streams, where t