and arduous march towards the east
which, after the capture of Middleburg, ended in the surrender of
Barberton. It was in the beginning of September that French turned his
attention to the enemy's forces collected round the latter town. He
commenced his operations by circulating reports of an intended action
in the opposite direction. While the Boers prepared to meet this he
was able to reach Carolina with comparative ease. Here he remained for
three days in order to prepare for a flanking movement against
Barberton. As he must cut himself off entirely from sources of supply,
such preparation was very necessary. French was about to attempt one
of the most daring achievements of his career. He was going to take
mounted men over a miniature Alps. The Boers were prepared for his
attacking Barberton from every direction save one. They never supposed
for a moment that the British troops would attempt to force the
Nelshoogte Pass. For what did it mean? The scaling of precipitous
heights, and the passage along narrow ledges of men, horses and guns.
It would have been a difficult task for mountaineers, far less for
heavily burdened cavalrymen.

French, however, was determined to do the impossible "once more." He
would repeat the miracle of Coles Kop on a titanic scale. Accordingly,
after a day's hard fighting, he rested his men for a night near the
entrance to the pass. On the following morning, the enemy having
disappeared, the advance was sounded. Up a narrow path, whose gradient
was frequently one in four, the men crawled, often on hands and knees,
while their horses stumbled on behind. Frequently they were scaling
towering crags several hundred feet in height, from which there was
sometimes a sheer fall of over a thousand feet. In teams of sixteen
the oxen panted, struggled and frequently perished in the attempt to
drag the heavy guns up the fearful incline. Only a man of indomitable
courage would have attempted such a feat. But French lost not a single
man in the process. Perhaps the division's perfect belief in his luck
did something towards nerving the men for the ordeal.

The top of the pass once reached, French determined to make a sudden
descent on Barberton. Taking a leaf out of the Boers' book, he left
the whole of his baggage behind to lighten the horses, and rushed his
men towards the town. On descending the other side of the pass the
soldiers had still to lead their horses, who were as often on their
haunches