tails as are following him along the Britstown Road.
As it is essential that the pass over Minie Kloof should be kept clear
pending the arrival of the aforementioned details, the G.O.C. directs
that the proposed reconnaissance to Strydenburg be abandoned, and the
troops which would have been used for the reconnaissance be sent to
hold Minie Kloof. As soon as the New Cavalry Brigade is complete, it
will follow with all speed upon the direct road to Prieska. Under no
circumstances are other arrangements to be made."

The occasion was not opportune for an expression of the brigadier's
feelings, but his silence was eloquent. There was no hope for it: it
was a written order from a senior, and we had no choice but to obey.

It is said by some that Christian de Wet is the best general that the
war produced from the ranks of our enemy. It is not our present
intention to debate upon this subject; but this much can be said with
confidence, that he has been the most fortunate of leaders. On every
occasion in which he has been hard pressed, when to all intents and
purposes he has found himself at the end of his tether, the pendulum
of fortune has favoured him in its swing. Often enough he has saved
his skin through the culpable stupidity of his pursuers. But even when
he has almost been cornered by the very best of leaders and men that
the British Empire can produce, the law of chances has stood by him. A
meddling contradictory telegram from headquarters, a thunderstorm or a
swollen river, has times without number saved the slippery commandant
at the eleventh hour. Take the present instance. It subsequently
proved that if the brigadier had, as he intended, moved upon
Strydenburg, and arrived there on the same day that he was directed by
his superior officer to stand fast and hold the Minie Kloof, he would
have arrived at his goal practically simultaneously with the guerilla
chieftain. The New Cavalry Brigade would have borne down upon the
little Karoo hamlet, fresh and in the full spirit of men new to war
and "spoiling for the fight"; men just sufficiently blooded in their
preliminary skirmish to have confidence both in themselves and in
their general, and--and this is the exasperating nature of the
story--while the British troopers would have ridden robustly into
battle, De Wet and his following were in no condition to receive them.
Unprepared for the arrival of fresh troops, spoiled of guns, train,
and ammunition, kicked and har