Christian de Wet, the elder of two brothers of that name, was at this time in the prime of life, a little over forty years of age.  He was a burly middle-sized bearded man, poorly educated, but endowed with much energy and common-sense.  His military experience dated back to Majuba Hill, and he had a large share of that curious race hatred which is intelligible in the case of the Transvaal, but inexplicable in a Freestater who has received no injury from the British Empire.  Some weakness of his sight compels the use of tinted spectacles, and he had now turned these, with a pair of particularly observant eyes behind them, upon the scattered British forces and the long exposed line of railway.

De Wet’s force was an offshoot from the army of Freestaters under De Villiers, Olivier, and Prinsloo, which lay in the mountainous north-east of the State.  To him were committed five guns, fifteen hundred men, and the best of the horses.  Well armed, well mounted, and operating in a country which consisted of rolling plains with occasional fortress kopjes, his little force had everything in its favour.  There were so many tempting objects of attack lying before him that he must have had some difficulty in knowing where to begin.  The tinted spectacles were turned first upon the isolated town of Lindley.

Colvile with the Highland Brigade had come up from Ventersburg with instructions to move onward to Heilbron, pacifying the country as he passed.  The country, however, refused to be pacified, and his march from Ventersburg to Lindley was harassed by snipers every mile of the way.  Finding that De Wet and his men were close upon him, he did not linger at Lindley, but passed on to his destination, his entire march of 126 miles costing him sixty-three casualties, of which nine were fatal.  It was a difficult and dangerous march, especially for the handful of Eastern Province Horse, upon whom fell all the mounted work.  By evil fortune a force of five hundred Yeomanry, the 18th battalion, including the Duke of Cambridge’s Own and the Irish companies, had been sent from Kroonstad to join Colvile at Lindley.  Colonel Spragge was in command.  On May 27th this body of horsemen reached their destination only to find that Colvile had already abandoned it.  They appear to have determined to halt for a day in Lindley, and then follow Colvile to Heilbron.  Within a few hours of their entering the town they were fiercely attacked by De Wet.

Colonel Spragge seems to have acted for the best.  Under a heavy fire he caused his troopers to fall back upon his transport, which had been left at a point a few miles out upon the Kroonstad Road, where three defensible kopjes sheltered a valley in which the cattle and horses could be herded.  A stream ran through it.  There were all the materials there for a stand which would have brought glory to the British arms.  The men were of peculiarly fine quality, many of them from the public schools and from the universities, and if any would fight to the death these with their sporting spirit and their high sense of honour might have been expected to do so.