Riet.]

Kelly-Kenny, with his division, less Clements' brigade, was to cover
the communications south of Naauwpoort, allay unrest and disaffection,
and open up the railway line as far as possible from Rosmead in the
direction of Stormberg, thus diverting attention from Gatacre. A
proposal made on the 23rd by him that French should be instructed to
seize Bethulie bridge by a forced march was refused by the
Field-Marshal, who, not to disclose his real reasons, told him that
the enterprise was a doubtful one; the country difficult, and strong
opposition would be offered to the move. To Sir W. Gatacre the
Commander-in-Chief issued orders on the 19th January that Dordrecht
should be garrisoned, and that Brabant's newly-formed Colonial
division should use that town as a base, and thence operate towards
Jamestown so as to menace the line of retreat of the Boer force at
Stormberg. Meanwhile Gatacre himself was to act strictly on the
defensive. Brabant was placed under his orders, but was to be given a
"perfectly free hand" and be allowed to report direct to Army
Headquarters.

[Sidenote: Enemy perplexed. Move begun.]

These various orders and instructions successfully effected Lord
Roberts' purpose. The distribution of the British troops perplexed and
confused the enemy, and the Boer leaders remained passive, making no
substantial change in their dispositions save to increase the strength
of the body covering the crossing to the north of Colesberg. By the
end of January Lord Roberts' staff had nearly finished the work of
preparation, and the Commander-in-Chief directed the concentration of
all available troops between the Orange river and the Modder for the
delivery of the stroke he had designed, leaving before Colesberg and
Magersfontein sufficient forces under the respective commands of
Major-General Clements and Lord Methuen to hold the enemy, at each of
these points, in check. It was on January 29th that General French was
summoned to Cape Town.[312] Immediately after his return the actual
transfer northwards of an army corps, made up of a cavalry division,
three infantry divisions, and some corps troops, was carried out. A
few details had started as early as the 28th.

[Footnote 312: It is one of the sequels of any attempt to
preserve in war that secrecy which is the very master-key of
the house of success that the evidence of much that has been
done during the period of reticence