As The River
Tended To The North The Sooner He Could Cross The Better.
On the
south side of the river, however, were considerable British forces,
and the obvious strategy was to hurry them forward and to block
every drift at which he could get over.
The river runs between very
deep banks, so steep that one might almost describe them as small
cliffs, and there was no chance of a horseman, far less a wagon,
crossing at any point save those where the convenience of traffic
and the use of years had worn sloping paths down to the shallows.
The British knew exactly therefore what the places were which had
to be blocked. On the use made of the next few hours the success or
failure of the whole operation must depend.
The nearest drift to Cronje was only a mile or two distant,
Klipkraal the name; next to that the Paardeberg Drift; next to that
the Wolveskraal Drift, each about seven miles from the other. Had
Cronje pushed on instantly after the action, he might have got
across at Klipkraal. But men, horses, and bullocks were equally
exhausted after a long twenty-four hours' marching and fighting. He
gave his weary soldiers some hours' rest, and then, abandoning
seventy-eight of his wagons, he pushed on before daylight for the
farthest off of the three fords (Wolveskraal Drift). Could he reach
and cross it before his enemies, he was safe. The Klipkraal Drift
had in the meanwhile been secured by the Buffs, the West Ridings,
and the Oxfordshire Light Infantry after a spirited little action
which, in the rapid rush of events, attracted less attention than
it deserved.
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