To him were committed five guns, fifteen hundred men, and the best of the horses.

Well armed, well mounted, and operating in a country which consisted of rolling plains with occasional fortress kopjes, his little force had everything in its favour.

There were so many tempting objects of attack lying before him that he must have had some difficulty in knowing where to begin.

The tinted spectacles were turned first upon the isolated town of Lindley.
Colvile with the Highland Brigade had come up from Ventersburg with instructions to move onward to Heilbron, pacifying the country as he passed.

The country, however, refused to be pacified, and his march from Ventersburg to Lindley was harassed by snipers every mile of the way.
Finding that De Wet and his men were close upon him, he did not linger at Lindley, but passed on to his destination, his entire march of 126 miles costing him sixty-three casualties, of which nine were fatal.
It was a difficult and dangerous march, especially for the handful of Eastern Province Horse, upon whom fell all the mounted work.