[Page Heading: THE BOERS FLEE]

These manoeuvres had reduced the horses almost to the last stage of
exhaustion. Many of them fell dead by the way. But at last the river
was reached. Still the actual crossing was not yet. Once again French
showed his extraordinary mastery of finesse. He ordered preparation to
be made for the actual crossing at Klip Drift and Rondeval Drift.
Having thrown Gordon to the left to effect one crossing and Broadwood
to the right to effect another, French advanced so rapidly that Cronje
was utterly nonplussed. Gordon opened a heavy shell fire which
completely disconcerted him, although only a very few of the guns
could come into action. Soon afterwards Gordon was crossing the river
in pursuit. The Boers fled, in spite of the natural strength of their
positions and the utterly exhausted state of our men. But neither
Gordon on the left, nor Broadwood on the right, was satisfied with
merely effecting a crossing. Both went in pursuit of the enemy towards
Kimberley. The result was a complete rout. The Boers' camp, their
ammunition, their wagons, fell entirely into our hands.

The rout was not without spasmodic touches of humour, even for these
jaded men. "One of the Staff plunged into the river and caught some
geese, but someone else ate them; a pig ran the gauntlet through the
camp--amidst roars of laughter, even from the serious General--of
lances, bayonets, knives, sticks, boots, water-bottles, anything to
hand, and at length was caught by a lucky trooper, who shared his
feast that night with his friends. A wagon of fresh fruit was taken,
sufficient to make thirsty men's mouths water, but some thought the
grapes were sour."[12]