Towards the end of April the authorities found that the situation was growing in interest as in difficulty. In the south-east of the Free State Colonel Dalgety and his small but truculent band had become the pivot round which British and Free Staters were manœuvring, and the red drama of war on the north and west of Wepener was becoming tragic as that of the region around Mafeking. Developments on a large and complicated scale were taking place, developments not as might be imagined in the direction of Pretoria, but for the purpose of catching the enemy in the northern and eastern portion of the Free State, and dealing with as much of him as possible before proceeding to larger things. There were now several separate columns on the march, each and all so arranged that, at a given moment and at a given place within a very short time they could concentrate for purposes of battle when battle should be imminent, and with a view to mopping up such Boer commandos as might chance to step in between the fangs of the British lion. (We are already aware that the Boer commandos in this region were far too knowing, and the anxious fangs eventually snapped on nothing at all! Still a vast mass of the foe was held in the south-east of the Free State while plans for the great advance northwards were being elaborated.)

Lord Roberts began the second act of his campaign by deploying the army from Karee Siding as far as Wepener, a distance of some seventy miles. Indeed, on Sunday the 22nd of April, we find that one portion of the army was at Bushman’s Kop, south of Wepener, another was near Dewetsdorp, half-way between the latter place and Bloemfontein, another was moving to Tweede Geluk, some twenty miles from Bloemfontein and twenty-two from Dewetsdorp, and already in communication with General Rundle, who was making for Dewetsdorp, while troops were also at or near Sanna’s Post and fifteen miles west—at Kranz Kraal, a valuable passage of the Modder between Sanna’s Post and the railways which for some weeks had been much used by the Boers. All these troops were sprayed out at distances varying from twenty to thirty miles from each other, and were capable of getting into heliographic communication. As this somewhat complicated machinery requires to be examined and not dismissed with a word, it is better, if possible, to follow the commanding officers as they each moved on his special duty.