y of girls, good
Madam Embonpoint could only arrange one spare bedroom, and that was
reserved for the brigadier; but the rest dragged their sopping valises
into the parlour and trusted to get five hours' sleep before a
daylight start....

To add to the chagrin of the brigade, and to further demonstrate the
singular Providence which ever seemed to attend De Wet in his
movements, even unto the eleventh hour, it was found that the force
had bivouacked on the very fringe of the storm. As is so often the
case with these South African storms, the rigour of the downfall was
local, and while the brigade had been so badly caught that it was
practically impossible for the teams to move the guns without the aid
of drag-ropes, half a mile away the surface of the veldt was
unaffected and the going good. This discovery caused the day to dawn
with brighter prospects, and as soon as the sodden column, free of its
transport, felt the sounder bottom, it shook itself as would a
retriever after a swim, and settled down to a swinging drying-trot.
The brigadier had theories on the methods to be employed in the kind
of war-game with which he was confronted; and he determined, if
possible, to be in front of the Boer pickets and observation-posts,
realising that two circumstances were in his favour. The concentration
ordered for Philippolis should have reduced the strength of the Boer
watchmen, and the rain of the preceding night, while rendering
sentinels less inclined for the bitter vigil of early morning, had
laid the tell-tale dust, which, as a rule, is the greatest impediment
to secret movement. He threw out a troop to go very wide on either
flank, in order to serve the double purpose of capturing any shirking
Boer pickets which might chance to be alarmed at the later arrival of
the transport column, and of guarding against De Wet's commando
slipping past across the back trail. As the daylight strengthened, and
showed that the going improved, everything pointed to a successful
ride on the part of the two squadrons which had been pushed forward in
the night. By seven o'clock the men had begun to dry, and as the
object of the hunt leaked out, a general improvement was apparent in
the spirits of the force.

The first information which came in to headquarters, as the whole
force moved rapidly forward, came from the Basuto scout, whom the
Intelligence officer had relieved of his obligations to the
Intelligence guide as soon as the latter had