With Renewed Heart The Cavalry Pushed On And Made For The
Drift, While Major Rimington, To Whom The Onerous Duty Of Guiding
The Force Had Been Entrusted, Gave A Sigh Of Relief As He Saw That
He Had Indeed Struck The Very Point At Which He Had Aimed.
The essential thing in the movements had been speed - to reach each
point before the enemy could concentrate to oppose them.
Upon this
it depended whether they would find five hundred or five thousand
waiting on the further bank. It must have been with anxious eyes
that French watched his first regiment ride down to Klip Drift. If
the Boers should have had notice of his coming and have transferred
some of their 40-pounders, he might lose heavily before he forced
the stream. But this time, at last, he had completely outmanoeuvred
them. He came with the news of his coming, and Broadwood with the
12th Lancers rushed the drift. The small Boer force saved itself by
flight, and the camp, the wagons, and the supplies remained with
the victors. On the night of the 13th he had secured the passage of
the Modder, and up to the early morning the horses and the guns
were splashing through its coffee-coloured waters.
French's force had now come level to the main position of the
Boers, but had struck it upon the extreme left wing. The extreme
right wing, thanks to the Koodoosdrift demonstration, was fifty
miles off, and this line was naturally very thinly held, save only
at the central position of Magersfontein.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 361 of 842
Words from 96507 to 96768
of 225456
