r."

_B._ "Have you any one who knows the way?"

_I. O._ "Yes, sir, there is a man in the Light Horse who has done some
transport riding in the Southern Free State, who says he knows
something about it."

_B._ "Better and better (_turning to the captain of the
advance-guard_). Now, I am going to put you in the way of a very big
thing. You are senior captain in your corps, are you not?"

_Captain._ "Yes, sir, senior captain, adjutant, and second in command;
we have got no majors!"

_B._ "That is all right then. Well, I want you to start on at once
with two squadrons, and to push on to Fauresmith. I fancy that you
will find it has dried up a bit now, and as these storms are usually
local, it is quite possible that you may strike better going as you
get along. When you get into the hilly country about Fauresmith, go
cunning, try and get as close as you can without being seen, and find
a position from which you can hold the road leading from Fauresmith
to the Riet River. Come over here and look at the map. Now, if you get
off by midnight, you ought to make two miles an hour until daybreak.
That is twelve miles; the remaining ten you will do inside two hours.
If you are sniped, push on; but if opposed in force, do your best,
only let me know. Now, these are my plans (_pointing on the map_). You
see the parallelogram? well, you go slap-bang into it. I shall come
along as fast as I can with the ground in this condition. I shall, if
you come into touch with the enemy in force, send two squadrons and
two guns direct to the bridge over the Riet north of the
parallelogram, and two squadrons and two guns south of the
parallelogram, while I come on with the rest in your direction. Now,
your business is, first, not to let yourself be seen; secondly, so to
arrange yourself that if De Wet and his crowd get to Fauresmith before
we are up, to manoeuvre and keep him there until we arrive. It is a
difficult job, I allow; but I know that you are the man to make the
best of it. Get your men to understand that now they have the
opportunity of making a reputation. The brigade-major will give you
all this in writing. You may pick your squadrons. Now, get along, and
don't waste time!"

While the two squadrons of Mount Nelson Light Horse were picking their
way out of camp that night, and while the rest of the brigade was
turning into its miserable bivouac, the staff "bedded down" in the
drawing-room of the farmhouse. With so large a famil