valuable cargo of live stock, and two newspaper correspondents, who
were made prisoners. Finding that the enemy was gathered in force round
Dundee, and that an attack there was hourly to be expected, and,
moreover, that several Free State commandoes were shifting about round
Ladysmith, the inhabitants of that town had an uneasy time.
Major-General French, who had but recently arrived from England, was
directed by Sir George White to make a reconnaissance in force in the
neighbourhood of Elandslaagte. He moved his cavalry in the pouring rain
some twelve miles along the Dundee road, but besides locating the enemy,
and beyond the capture of two of their number, who seemed not
ill-disposed to be made prisoners, little was done. On the following
day, Saturday, another reconnaissance was made. General French with
Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Chisholme and the Imperial Light Horse, the
Natal Volunteer Artillery with six guns, supported by half a battalion
of the Manchesters, with railway and telegraph construction companies,
started in the direction occupied by the enemy on the preceding day.
General French's orders were simple and explicit, namely, to clear the
neighbourhood of Elandslaagte of the enemy and to cover the construction
of the railway and telegraph lines. The troops slowly proceeded along a
low tableland which terminated in a cliff. On a plain below this cliff
lay the station and village of Elandslaagte, and round and about this
settlement mounted Boers were swarming. These no sooner espied the
British than they made off as fast as their nimble steeds could carry
them, ascending in the direction of a high kopje some 5000 yards away.
Those who remained in the station were fired on by our Volunteer
Battery, while a squadron under Major Sampson moved round to the north
of them.

[Illustration: POSITION OF FORCES BEFORE THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE,
NOON]

The first two shells caused considerable consternation among the
Dutchmen, but they were soon returned with interest. Though the enemy
used smokeless explosives, their battery was revealed by the yellow
flash of the guns in the purple shadow of the hill. These guns were
worked with marvellous accuracy, but, fortunately, many of the
shells--fired with percussion fuses--dug deep into the sand before
bursting. The Volunteer Battery found their own guns so inferior to
those of the enemy that there was little chance of silencing them, and
General French, seeing there was n