All these attacks, irritating and destructive as they were, were not able to hinder the general progress of the war.  After the battle of Diamond Hill the captured position was occupied by the mounted infantry, while the rest of the forces returned to their camps round Pretoria, there to await the much-needed remounts.  At other parts of the seat of war the British cordon was being drawn more tightly round the Boer forces.  Buller had come as far as Standerton, and Ian Hamilton, in the last week of June, had occupied Heidelberg.  A week afterwards the two forces were able to join hands, and so to completely cut off the Free State from the Transvaal armies.  Hamilton in these operations had the misfortune to break his collar-bone, and for a time the command of his division passed to Hunter—­the one man, perhaps, whom the army would regard as an adequate successor.

It was evident now to the British commanders that there would be no peace and no safety for their communications while an undefeated army of seven or eight thousand men, under such leaders as De Wet and Olivier, was lurking amid the hills which flanked their railroad.  A determined effort was made, therefore, to clear up that corner of the country.  Having closed the only line of escape by the junction of Ian Hamilton and of Buller, the attention of six separate bodies of troops was concentrated upon the stalwart Freestaters.  These were the divisions of Rundle and of Brabant from the south, the brigade of Clements on their extreme left, the garrison of Lindley under Paget, the garrison of Heilbron under Macdonald, and, most formidable of all, a detachment under Hunter which was moving from the north.  A crisis was evidently approaching.

The nearest Free State town of importance still untaken was Bethlehem—­a singular name to connect with the operations of war.  The country on the south of it forbade an advance by Rundle or Brabant, but it was more accessible from the west.  The first operation of the British consisted, therefore, in massing sufficient troops to be able to advance from this side.  This was done by effecting a junction between Clements from Senekal, and Paget who commanded at Lindley, which was carried out upon July 1st near the latter place.  Clements encountered some opposition, but besides his excellent infantry regiments, the Royal Irish, Worcesters, Wiltshires, and Bedfords, he had with him the 2nd Brabant’s Horse, with yeomanry, mounted infantry, two 5-inch guns, and the 38th R.F.A.  Aided by a demonstration on the part of Grenfell and of Brabant, he pushed his way through after three days of continual skirmish.