He Had Six Batteries Of Excellent Field Artillery - The
13th, 21st, 42nd, 53rd, 67th, 69th, And No.
10 Mountain Battery of
screw guns.
No general could have asked for a more compact and
workmanlike little force.
It had been recognised by the British General from the beginning
that his tactics must be defensive, since he was largely
outnumbered and since also any considerable mishap to his force
would expose the whole colony of Natal to destruction. The actions
of Elandslaagte and Rietfontein were forced upon him in order to
disengage his compromised detachment, but now there was no longer
any reason why he should assume the offensive. He knew that away
out on the Atlantic a trail of transports which already extended
from the Channel to Cape de Verde were hourly drawing nearer to him
with the army corps from England. In a fortnight or less the first
of them would be at Durban. It was his game, therefore, to keep his
army intact, and to let those throbbing engines and whirling
propellers do the work of the empire. Had he entrenched himself up
to his nose and waited, it would have paid him best in the end.
But so tame and inglorious a policy is impossible to a fighting
soldier. He could not with his splendid force permit himself to be
shut in without an action. What policy demands honour may forbid.
On October 27th there were already Boers and rumours of Boers on
every side of him. Joubert with his main body was moving across
from Dundee.
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