how to make such turning movements without sufficient cavalry, no one
yet has been able to tell. However, it is not for us to enter into any
criticism or defence of a British General.

What concerns us most for the purpose of this book, and what we rejoice
to know, is that Lord Methuen was a humble and sincere Christian, who
did all that lay in his power to further the spiritual work among his
men. What this means to a chaplain or Scripture reader at the front can
hardly be told. This we do know, that the direct assistance of the
commanding officer often makes all the difference between rich success
and comparative failure.


=Christian Work at De Aar and Orange River.=

The rallying-point for the Kimberley Relief Column was, in the first
place, De Aar, the junction where the line to Kimberley connects with
the line to Bloemfontein. In course of time, De Aar became the great
distributing centre of stores for the forces on the way to Kimberley and
Colesberg. Here the Army Service Corps held sway, and enormous were the
stores committed to their care.

But at first, as we have said, De Aar was the rallying place for our
troops, as they moved up from Capetown, and here it was that they got
their first sight of the Boers. As they placed their pickets and
sentries round the camp for the night, a Boer woman was heard to say,
'The rooineks are so afraid that their men will run away, that they have
had to put armed men round the camp to keep the others in.' That was her
way of interpreting the duties of British sentries!