"The information available regarding the positions occupied by the armies of the two Dutch Republics showed the great bulk of the forces of the Orange Free State were massed near the passes of the Drakensberg mountains, west of Ladysmith. The troops of the South African Republic were concentrated at various points west, north, and east of the northern angle of Natal."
THE TREACHERY OF A WOUNDED DERVISH.
An incident in the Soudan War 1898.
THE LAST STAND OF THE KHALIFA'S STANDARD BEARER.
A thrilling incident in the late Soudan war. "That one man, alone,
was standing alive, holding his flag upright a storm of lead sweeping
past him—his comrades dead around him."
October 10th, the Boer war ultimatum was received. Sir George desired to withdraw the troops from Glencoe, but the Governor of Natal said, "Such a step would involve great political results and possibilities of so serious a nature that I determined to accept the military risk of holding Dundee as the lesser of two evils. I proceeded in person to Ladysmith on October 11th, sending on Lieutenant-General Sir William Penn Symons to take command at Glencoe.
"The Boers crossed the frontier both on the north and west on October 12th, and next day the Transvaal flag was hoisted at Charlestown. My great inferiority in numbers necessarily confined me strategically to the defensive, but tactically my intention was and is to strike vigorously whenever opportunity offers."
Sir George states that it was Sir W. P. Symons' intention to make a direct attack on the enemy's position under cover of a small wood and of some buildings, and continues: