m the
Transvaal to Buluwayo and from Mafeking to Victoria. The troops here
were under the command of Colonel Plumer, who, from the time that
Mafeking was besieged, was untiring in his efforts to come to the
rescue. With Colonel Plumer were the following officers: Majors Pilsen
and Bird, Captain Maclaren (13th Hussars), the notable polo-player,
Captain Blackburn (Cameronians), Captain Rolt (York and Lancashire
Regiment), Lieutenant Rankin (7th Hussars), Lieutenant French (Royal
Irish Regiment), and several others.

On the 19th of October a party of the enemy was suddenly met on the
Rhodesian side of the river by a reconnoitring patrol. The Dutchmen
fired on the patrol, wounding a trooper. Captain Glynn went off for the
purpose of locating the enemy, and discovered the presence of a Boer
column in his neighbourhood. Two days later a smart skirmish took place
between a strong patrol and the enemy, who was encountered at Rhodes's
Drift, with the result that two troopers were killed and two wounded.
The Boers afterwards took up a strong position on a kopje at Pont's
Drift, fired in a dastardly manner on Major Pilsen, Sergeant Shepstone,
and his party while they were removing dead and wounded to an ambulance
and a cart brought for the purpose, and their work of mercy had to be
carried on under the most trying and aggravating conditions. There were
also some skirmishes at Crocodile River. An armoured train got within
about 1500 yards of a Boer laager three miles south of Crocodile Poort.
Captain Blackburn (Cameronians) was seriously wounded and died on the
road to Tuli, whither the British retired by Colonel Plumer's orders. It
is satisfactory to note that Sergeant Shepstone, who gallantly came to
Captain Blackburn's assistance, received his commission.

Skirmishing took place at odd intervals, and Colonel Plumer continued to
send reconnoitring parties up and down the river. On many occasions
these were fired upon, but without serious result. On the 28th, however,
Captains White and Glynn reconnoitred a kopje at Pont's Drift--each
approaching the hill on a different side--whereupon a brisk skirmish
ensued, when five of their men were shot by the enemy and four wounded.
Later on, after his reconnaissance westward along the Crocodile River,
Colonel Plumer returned to Tuli. Boer commandoes were at that time
supposed to have retired to the neighbourhood of either Pietersburg or
Mafeking. Colonel Spreckley's camp was shelled by th