set of columns, under Rawlinson, Byng, and Rimington.  These, starting on an extended front which ran from near Johannesburg to within a few miles of Heilbron with their centre astride the Vaal and their right touching the Natal Railway, would advance S.E. to near Vrede; then wheeling to the right march southwards with their left on the Drakensberg; finally, in conjunction with Elliott, pushing the fugitives on to the eastern section of the Harrismith blockhouse line.  The operation may be likened to the sweep of two brooms, one acting with a semicircular and the other with a forward movement.

It was begun by Elliott, who started on February 13, and after an abortive attempt to snap up De Wet reached Wilge River on February 22 and awaited the arrival of the other columns; his left being near Tafelkop.

Rawlinson and Byng meanwhile were advancing.  On February 19 they wheeled to the right and with their centre near Vrede were now wholly within the Orange River Colony.  The two forces were now disposed at right angles to each other, one of the lines containing the angle being the Wilge River, which Elliott was unable to hold in sufficient strength as his front was widely extended.  In the vicinity of Harrismith the southern blockhouse line was reinforced by Brook, who succeeded Rundle in the command of the district.

The northern blockhouse line was unable to stem the tide of fugitives flying before Rawlinson and Byng, whose columns were now strung out on a much wider front than that on which they had begun their march.  The advance of Elliott had also driven various Boer details into the right angle, in which were now conglomerated not only combatants, but women, children, stock, and transport.  Included among the fugitives from Elliott were De Wet and Steyn, who had again come together.  With Elliott at their heels, their only chance of escape was to break through the attenuated line of Rawlinson’s columns.  De Wet’s good fortune did not fail him, and with Steyn and a few hundred burghers he severed it at Langverwacht at midnight on February 23 and was again at large.  The remnant of the commandos was left behind within the pale with their women, children, cattle, and stuff; and these, augmented by the Harrismith commando, were the prisoners of Elliott and Rawlinson when the drive, in which 30,000 British troops were directly or indirectly engaged, completed its task.

Yet another drive, the third of the new series, ensued.  It had, of course, for its objective the capture of De Wet, as well as the “tidying up” of the district, in which certain commandos, which had not been netted in former drives, still lurked.  It was composed, like the second drive, of two sets of converging columns and traversed the terrain of the first drive.