rseas Brigade, General
Ridley for the South African, and General Ian Hamilton for Divisional
Commander.

Quite three-fourths of the proposed strength of the Overseas Brigade was
encamped on the lower slopes of Signal Hill within four weeks of my
receiving my instructions.

By May 7 I had established my depots at Capetown and Bloemfontein and had
succeeded in re-equipping our brigade as well as obtaining the greater
portion of the horses required. The remainder were arriving in batches
each day, and I had accumulated sufficient stores of all kinds to attend
to their wants on arrival.

Hutton arrived and took command of his brigade; a real fine lot of men
they were, too. The horses were good and in fine fettle. When on parade
it was quite difficult to differentiate between the four corps. They were
an equally strong, hardy lot of men, clear-eyed, sitting their horses as
only the Colonials can.

I had known Hutton well, as you know, during his period of command in New
South Wales. After leaving New South Wales he had put in three years as
General Officer Commanding in Canada. If there was one branch of the
Service which he dearly loved, it was the mounted rifles. I don't
remember any general ever looking so happy and contented as he did on the
day he took command, and I was not surprised. I was proud enough of them
myself. What valuable work they did afterwards in the field was fully
appreciated by the Commander-in-Chief and the other troops alongside of
whom they fought during the campaign.

During our stay at Bloemfontein I had several opportunities of discussing
with Lord Roberts and Kitchener the scheme for universal service which I
had years before prepared at Adelaide. They were both very keenly
interested in it, and we talked it over from every point of view. Lord
Roberts considered it eminently suitable and most desirable, especially
when remembering the deep-rooted objection that existed to military
conscription at home and in the Colonies.

CHAPTER XII

IN COMMAND OF A MOUNTED COLUMN

On the day before he left Bloemfontein Lord Roberts sent for me and asked
me how many of the Overseas Brigade had been unable to march out of
Bloemfontein. I informed him that taking into account the sick and
convalescent, two or three units which had only just arrived, and some
for whom I was awaiting delivery of horses from the Remount Depot, in all
somewhere between seven and eight hundred men. He also asked me