e Boers out of
the little kopjes, of fortifying them, and of passing the army on to the
tip of the tongue; but to get off the tongue on to the smooth plateau
that runs to Ladysmith it was necessary to force the tremendous Boer
position enclosing the tongue. In technical language the possession of
the heights virtually gave us a bridgehead on the Tugela, but the
debouches from that bridgehead were barred by an exterior line of hills
fortified and occupied by the enemy.

What will Sir Redvers Buller do? In a few hours we shall know. To cross
and deliver a frontal attack will cost at least three thousand men. Is a
flank attack possible? Can the position be turned? Fords few and far
between, steep banks, mighty positions on the further banks: such are
some of the difficulties. But everyone has confidence in the general.
An officer who had been serving on the Kimberley side came here. 'I
don't understand,' he said, 'how it is you are all so cheerful here
after Colenso. You should hear the troops at Modeler River.' But it is a
poor army that cannot take a repulse and come up smiling, and when the
private soldiers put their faith in any man they are very constant.
Besides, Buller's personality impresses everyone with the idea of some
great reserve of force. Certainly he has something up his sleeve. The
move to Potgieter's has been talked of for a month and executed with the
greatest ostentation and deliberation. Surely something lies behind it
all. So at least we all believe, and in the meanwhile trust
wholeheartedly.

But some part of the army will certainly cross at Potgieter's; and as I
looked down on the smooth smiling landscape it seemed very strange to
think that in a few days it would blaze into a veritable hell. Yet the
dark lines of shelter trenches, the redoubts crowning the hills, the
bristle of tiny black figures busily entrenching against the sky line,
hundreds of horses grazing in the plain, all promised a fierce and
stubborn defence. I turned about. The country to the southward was also
visible. What looked to the naked eye like an endless thin rope lay
streaked across the spacious veldt, and when I looked through the glass
I saw that it was ten or twelve miles of marching men and baggage. The
armies were approaching. The collision impended.

Nothing happened during the day except the capture of the ferry, which
daring enterprise was carried out by volunteers from the South African
Light Horse. Six swimmers,