ORMBERG PASS--THE SCENE OF GENERAL GATACRE'S
OPERATIONS.

Drawing by J. C. S. Wright.]

On the 26th November the Boers occupied Stormberg, and on the 28th
General Gatacre moved to Bushman's Hoek with a battalion of infantry and
some mounted infantry, the main body being at Putter's Kraal. On the
29th he accomplished a smart piece of work, though any really decisive
action could not be attempted till more troops arrived from the Cape.
The General concentrated a force at Molteno, commandeered five trains,
and secured 1000 bags of flour which were in danger of being captured by
the Boers.

On the 5th December the headquarters of the 3rd Division were still at
Putter's Kraal, and here reinforcements were arriving daily.
Manifestations of disloyalty grew more and more prevalent throughout
Cape Colony, and the spread of the spirit of rebellion around Stormberg
pointed to the fact that there were deliberate designs to assist in the
overthrow of British supremacy.

On the 5th of December it was decided that a forward movement must at
last be made. The plan was for the column to start by train to Molteno,
and from thence march to the Boer laager at Stormberg. A dash was to be
attempted in the darkness preceding dawn, and the position was to be
carried at the point of the bayonet.

The project was fraught with extreme risk, but General Gatacre, though
fully aware that he was without the necessary reinforcements to make
good a continuous advance, resolved to accept the hazard for the sake of
the chance of success, and for the sake of the moral effect such success
might make in a district weevilled with disaffection. The game of war is
one where reputation, armies, and empires are the stakes, and needs to
be played not only with science, but with bluff, and no committee of
generals, not even one composed of Napoleon, the Archduke Charles, and
Wellington, could have laid down any fixed theory on the art of war as
practised in the Transvaal at that moment. So our officers had to watch
which way the wind blew and trim their sails accordingly; and Sir
William Gatacre judged that it would be perilous to delay an attack on
Stormberg until circumstances seemed to be absolutely propitious. The
Colonial Boers were daily joining the enemy in considerable numbers,
British subjects were imploring aid to save their property from
destruction, and it was imperative to make some strong move which, if
successful, would immediately arrest the