Two serious defeats had within the week been inflicted upon the
British forces in South Africa. Cronje, lurking behind his trenches
and his barbed wire entanglements barred Methuen's road to
Kimberley, while in the northern part of Cape Colony Gatacre's
wearied troops had been defeated and driven by a force which
consisted largely of British subjects. But the public at home
steeled their hearts and fixed their eyes steadily upon Natal.
There was their senior General and there the main body of their
troops. As brigade after brigade and battery after battery touched
at Cape Town, and were sent on instantly to Durban, it was evident
that it was in this quarter that the supreme effort was to be made,
and that there the light might at last break. In club, and dining
room, and railway car - wherever men met and talked - the same words
might be heard: 'Wait until Buller moves.' The hopes of a great
empire lay in the phrase.
It was upon October 30th that Sir George White had been thrust back
into Ladysmith. On November 2nd telegraphic communication with the
town was interrupted. On November 3rd the railway line was cut. On
November 10th the Boers held Colenso and the line of the Tugela. On
the 14th was the affair of the armoured train. On the 18th the
enemy were near Estcourt. On the 21st they had reached the Mooi
River. On the 23rd Hildyard attacked them at Willow Grange.
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