own, and holding them as
hostages. The festival, however, passed without incident, and the tide
of men and horses, guns and waggons, which had reached a record height
in the history of the town, soon began to ebb once more, and then
everything settled down to the quiet, peaceful state of affairs which
almost always characterised Krugersdorp. The band played in the market
square, and concerts were arranged in the town hall, while the General
set a fine example to his troops for their guidance in his treatment
of those of our late enemies who had observed their oaths of
neutrality, as a large number of them most religiously did. Ever
foremost in aggressive tactics in the field until the enemy was
overcome, the General adopted a policy of conciliation at other times
which undoubtedly had far-reaching effects as regarded the conduct of
the inhabitants of Krugersdorp.

On December 19th, 400 men of the regiment, under Major Bird, started
off to join the force under General French which was going to sweep
the Eastern Transvaal, very much on the same lines that the various
columns had been sweeping the Western Transvaal. Their special duty
was to act as a baggage-guard to the various mounted corps, a duty
which they shared with a battalion of Guards. Their lives for the next
two or three months were very much the same as they had been for the
previous two or three months, though they covered an even greater
number of miles, and, owing to the rains and thunderstorms of the
South African summer, experienced an even harder time. It is the
custom to speak in terms of high praise of the climate of South
Africa, but if the British Army had been consulted on the subject
after some of these treks, it is doubtful if their vocabulary would
have been large enough to enable them to thoroughly ventilate their
opinions. The fact is that the spring, summer, and autumn are ruined
by the desperate storms which are of such common occurrence at those
times of year. There are, it is true, four winter months of glorious
weather: fine, frosty, starlit nights, and clear days of brilliant
sunshine when the heat is never unpleasant. But of these four months,
two are completely ruined by the high winds which sweep the broad
veld, and which, in the vicinity of the mines, fill the air with
minute particles of gritty dust from the waste-heaps, penetrating eyes
and nostrils, throats and lungs.

The first portion of the trek was, however, spent in the coun