Suddenly all the operations were deranged by the news that De Wet had crossed the Vaal at Schoeman’s Drift on August 6, and the greater part of the British Army in the Transvaal was either directly or indirectly turned on to the pursuit of one man; Lord Kitchener, as usual when energy and pushing power rather than tactical skill were looked for, being placed in general charge of the operations.  The two most determined and unfaltering men in South Africa were now pitted against one another.

De Wet’s escape from the Brandwater Basin on July 15 was soon discovered and he was unable to get a good start.  Broadwood’s and Little’s mounted brigades were sent after him, now and then taking long shots at him or worrying his rearguard.  His object was to conduct Steyn and the Free State Government officials into the Transvaal, where they could co-operate with Kruger.  He chose the route which appeared to him, and rightly so, to be the line of least resistance, namely, towards the Vaal Drifts near Potchefstroom; instead of making for the upper reaches of the river, on the other side of which Buller was established on the Natal railway.

It was soon found impossible to overtake him, even with mounted troops.  The only course was to shepherd him into a fold from which he could not escape.  The tracery on the map of his movements and of those of his chief scout Theron, intersected by the reticulations of the pursuing columns, resembles a spider’s web in disorder.

[Sidenote:  Map, p. 292.]

Finally he was hemmed in on the left bank of the Vaal near Reitzburg.  On the right bank Methuen, supported by Smith-Dorrien, was watching the drifts.  He did his best, but his force was insufficient for the purpose, and on August 6 De Wet, with it is said no less than 400 wagons, entered the Transvaal at Schoeman’s Drift, the greater part of Methuen’s force having been sent to hold a drift lower down.  Methuen doubled back and fell upon the Boer rearguard, which, though driven out of successive positions, maintained itself long enough to allow the main body to escape unscathed.

De Wet’s subsequent movements greatly puzzled his pursuers.  He divided his column into two portions which did not always march in the same direction, and it was therefore difficult to discern the ruling movement of his trek.  At one time it appeared that he was about to re-cross into the Free State, and the plans for the northward pursuit were temporarily suspended; to be resumed when he had received an allowance of one day’s start.  It is probable that his original intention had been to return to his own country as soon as he had put Steyn and the officials into the Transvaal, leaving them with an escort to find their own way to Kruger, and that he was prevented by the appearance of a strong column under Kitchener on the left bank.  As a Free Stater, moreover, he would be disinclined to give his services to the Transvaal.