the weeks which had immediately followed Lord
Roberts' appointment to command, when, though he had not reached Cape
Town, at least the wider scope of manoeuvres might be supposed to be
directed by him, or to be in accordance with his wishes, the only
fierce fighting which had taken place was round Colesberg, and much of
it suggested a wish to secure the passage of the Orange river at
Norval's Pont, an obvious necessity if the great movement was to be
made along the Colesberg--Norval's Pont--Bloemfontein route. Outside
Natal this continued, after Lord Roberts arrived, to be even more the
case, and so far as Cape Colony was concerned, the distribution of
troops showed Norval's Pont as the central point of the front of
attack. Lord Methuen's line of communications, supply and
reinforcements through Orange River station marked the left, Gatacre's
slowly gathering division the right, and French, now close to
Norval's Pont, the centre. Without delaying the progress over Orange
River bridge, it was possible to strengthen the conviction in Cronje's
mind that it was at Norval's Pont that danger threatened.

[Sidenote: and means taken to hoodwink him.]

In the first place, the great number of wagons, horses and stores
which had to be passed up under the protection of Lord Methuen's
division, and of the troops immediately engaged in guarding the line,
needed ample time, and, as it was not easy for the Boers to
distinguish between what was required for Lord Methuen's army and the
accumulations that were being made for a very different purpose, this
necessary preparation for the decisive move was not likely to attract
much notice. If, therefore, a freshly-arrived division were sent to
French's neighbourhood, say from Port Elizabeth to Naauwpoort
junction, since its coming there was sure to be reported to the Boers,
it would not merely meet the need for having a reinforcement for
French available in case of emergency, which, as will be seen further
on, was the reason assigned at the time by Lord Roberts for sending
it, but it would help to confirm the idea that it was towards Norval's
Pont that the whole concentration was trending. The division and the
whole of French's command could be kept in this district to the last
moment, because of the cross railway which from Naauwpoort junction
runs to connect the railway from Port Elizabeth with that from Cape
Town to Kimberley. The troops moving up by this the most westerly line
would d