.

PAARDEBERG.
Lord Roberts's operations, prepared with admirable secrecy and carried out with extreme energy, aimed at two different results, each of which he was fortunate enough to attain.

The first was that an overpowering force of cavalry should ride round the Boer position and raise the siege of Kimberley: the fate of this expedition has already been described.
The second was that the infantry, following hard on the heels of the cavalry, and holding all that they had gained, should establish itself upon Cronje's left flank and cut his connection with Bloemfontein.

It is this portion of the operations which has now to be described.
The infantry force which General Roberts had assembled was a very formidable one.

The Guards he had left under Methuen in front of the lines of Magersfontein to contain the Boer force.