On December 6th De Wet Had At Last Reached The Orange River A Clear
Day In Front Of His Pursuers.
But it was only to find that his
labours had been in vain.
At Odendaal, where he had hoped to cross,
the river was in spate, the British flag waved from a post upon the
further side, and a strong force of expectant Guardsmen eagerly
awaited him there. Instantly recognising that the game was up, the
Boer leader doubled back for the north and safety. At Rouxville he
hesitated as to whether he should snap up the small garrison, but
the commandant, Rundle, showed a bold face, and De Wet passed on to
the Coomassie Bridge over the Caledon. The small post there refused
to be bluffed into a surrender, and the Boers, still dropping their
horses fast, passed on, and got over the drift at Amsterdam, their
rearguard being hardly across before Knox had also reached the
river.
On the 10th the British were in touch again near Helvetia, where
there was a rearguard skirmish. On the 11th both parties rode
through Reddersberg, a few hours separating them. The Boers in
their cross-country trekking go, as one of their prisoners
observed, 'slap-bang at everything,' and as they are past-masters
in the art of ox and mule driving, and have such a knowledge of the
country that they can trek as well by night as by day, it says much
for the energy of Knox and his men that he was able for a fortnight
to keep in close touch with them.
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