But In The North There Remained A Vast District, Two
Hundred Miles Long And Three Hundred Broad, Which Had Hardly Been
Touched By The War.
It is a wild country, scrub-covered,
antelope-haunted plains rising into desolate hills, but there are
many kloofs and valleys with rich water meadows and lush grazings,
which formed natural granaries and depots for the enemy.
Here the
Boer government continued to exist, and here, screened by their
mountains, they were able to organise the continuation of the
struggle. It was evident that there could be no end to the war
until these last centres of resistance had been broken up.
The British forces had advanced as far north as Rustenburg in the
west, Pienaar in the centre, and Lydenburg in the east, but here
they had halted, unwilling to go farther until their conquests had
been made good behind them. A General might well pause before
plunging his troops into that vast and rugged district, when an
active foe and an exposed line of communication lay for many
hundreds of miles to the south of them. But Lord Kitchener with
characteristic patience waited for the right hour to come, and then
with equally characteristic audacity played swiftly and boldly for
his stake. De Wet, impotent for the moment, had been hunted back
over the Orange River. French had harried the burghers in the
South-east Transvaal, and the main force of the enemy was known to
be on that side of the seat of war.
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Words from 186529 to 186780
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