During all the rest of the war, two thousand
men and eight guns (including one of the four big Creusots) had
been held there. It prevented the invasion of Rhodesia, and it gave
a rallying-point for loyal whites and natives in the huge stretch
of country from Kimberley to Bulawayo. All this had, at a cost of
two hundred lives, been done by this one devoted band of men, who
killed, wounded, or took no fewer than one thousand of their
opponents. Critics may say that the enthusiasm in the empire was
excessive, but at least it was expended over worthy men and a fine
deed of arms.
CHAPTER 25.
THE MARCH ON PRETORIA.
In the early days of May, when the season of the rains was past and
the veld was green, Lord Roberts's six weeks of enforced inaction
came to an end. He had gathered himself once more for one of those
tiger springs which should be as sure and as irresistible as that
which had brought him from Belmont to Bloemfontein, or that other
in olden days which had carried him from Cabul to Candahar. His
army had been decimated by sickness, and eight thousand men had
passed into the hospitals; but those who were with the colours were
of high heart, longing eagerly for action. Any change which would
carry them away from the pest-ridden, evil-smelling capital which
had revenged itself so terribly upon the invader must be a change
for the better. Therefore it was with glad faces and brisk feet
that the centre column left Bloemfontein on May 1st, and streamed,
with bands playing, along the northern road.
On May 3rd the main force was assembled at Karee, twenty miles upon
their way. Two hundred and twenty separated them from Pretoria, but
in little more than a month from the day of starting, in spite of
broken railway, a succession of rivers, and the opposition of the
enemy, this army was marching into the main street of the Transvaal
capital. Had there been no enemy there at all, it would still have
been a fine performance, the more so when one remembers that the
army was moving upon a front of twenty miles or more, each part of
which had to be co-ordinated to the rest. It is with the story of
this great march that the present chapter deals.
Roberts had prepared the way by clearing out the south-eastern
corner of the State, and at the moment of his advance his forces
covered a semicircular front of about forty miles, the right under
Ian Hamilton near Thabanchu, and the left at Karee. This was the
broad net which was to be swept from south to north across the Free
State, gradually narrowing as it went.
