During the previous week a severe action had been fought with him at Diamond Hill, where the English casualties had been very heavy.

The accounts of this engagement, as then related, had a touch of originality.

The Commander-in-Chief and Staff went out in a special train, sending their horses by road, which reminded one forcibly of a day's hunting; cab-drivers in the town asked pedestrians if they would like to drive out and see the fight.

The real affair, however, was grim earnest, and many were the gallant men who lost their lives on that occasion.

All the while De Wet was enjoying himself to the south by constantly interrupting the traffic on the railway.