French again drove them, although not without real difficulty, from
their stronghold. This accomplished, the army pushed on towards
Bloemfontein, which surrendered on March 13. For six weeks the main
body halted there to rest, but chiefly to obtain remounts for the
cavalry. During that time, however, French's men were not idle. They
continually patrolled the surrounding country, keeping in constant
touch with the enemy and driving him back for many miles from the
town.

[Page Heading: A PAINFUL SITTING]

One unhappy afternoon the General spent in sitting for a painter in
Bloemfontein. It was probably the severest ordeal of the campaign for
that retiring soldier. "General French," wrote the painter's youngest
daughter, "is quite the shyest man in the British army, and looks less
like a cavalry officer than you could possibly imagine. He is a heavy
man, always looks half-asleep--although who is there more wide
awake?--has a very red complexion, grey moustache, thick-set figure,
and the last personality in the world to help an artist as a sitter.
He promised to sit for the painter, although most characteristically
he could not for the life of him think what he had done to be of
sufficient interest for anyone to want to sketch him. At last, after a
great deal of trouble, the painter got him to sit one morning just
outside the club at Bloemfontein. That sitting was the shortest and
most disjointed the painter has ever had. The General sat bolt upright
in a chair, reading his paper upside down through sheer nervousness,
and, if he left that chair once, on one excuse or another, he left it
a hundred times, coming back looking more thoroughly upset and nervous
each time, until at last he never came back at all. And the painter's
only chance of sketching him was at the club during dinner!"[13]

At last the main army was ready for work again, and on May 1 the
troops moved out of the fever-stricken town. French and his cavalry
were the last to leave, but they overtook Lord Roberts and the main
body, and led the way to Kroonstad, once again the seat of the Free
State Government. Here by one of his famous turning movements, French
cleverly forced the enemy to surrender and give up the keys of the
town. Keeping ahead of Lord Roberts and his forces, he crossed the
Vaal River and was first at the gates of Johannesburg, which the
British entered on May 31.

[Page Heading: THE GUNS]

After two days in the mining city, Lord Robert