th the result that
when half-a-dozen Boers began rummaging about in the camp they were
suddenly invited to hold their hands up, a request which they had
of necessity to comply with, one of them being a Field-Cornet and a
man of some local importance. A halt was made in sight of Randfontein,
on the slopes of which a column, under Colonel the Hon. Ulick Roche,
could be seen proceeding in the direction of Krugersdorp. Next day was
Dingaan's Day, and rumour stated that the Boers under De la Rey,
flushed with their victory over Clements, were going to attack
Krugersdorp.

The column marched the remaining fifteen miles by 2.30 p.m. next day
without seeing any sign of the enemy. During the six days they had
been away they had marched 102 miles, skirmished with the enemy nearly
every day, taken a strong position by a fine example of tactics,
captured a good many prisoners, and brought in a large quantity of
cattle, sheep, &c.: a very fine six days' work.

Since May 30th the headquarters of the battalion had marched well over
1200 miles. On three occasions it had exceeded thirty miles in
twenty-four hours--the record, of course, being the thirty-eight miles
in sixteen hours from Klerkskraal to Pochefstroom in September. But
the most wonderful part of its work was the strange immunity it
experienced from any of the determined attacks which were so
constantly being made on other columns. Whether it was good or bad
luck, good or bad scouting, whatever it was, the fact remained that
with the exception of the almost daily scrapping and sniping, which
constant use had made to appear as part of the day's work, no action
of any importance came our way in spite of the countless marches and
counter-marches we made to bring one on. With the solitary exception
of the afternoon at Frederickstadt, when the Boers dropped a few
shells into our camp, and the two following days, when General
Liebenburg paid a similar attention to the detachment left behind on
the hill, we had not been under shell-fire.

In the meantime, the disaster to General Clements at Nooitgedacht had
drawn all eyes to the state of Krugersdorp, which with its small
garrison seemed to offer a tempting bait to De la Rey, and column
after column arrived to assist in repelling the assault which was
threatened for Dingaan's Day. Before the reinforcements arrived the
General had taken every sort of precaution; amongst others, arresting
most of the principal inhabitants of the t