Soon after, the railroad and bridge at Modder River Station
were destroyed by the JBoers. On the 16th the Boers took
possession of the railroad north and south of Kimberley, and
a Boer commando from Bethulie moved towards Norvals
Pont and destroyed the railroad. On the same day another
Boer force occupied Taungs. On the 17th the Boers de-
stroyed the bridge over the Vaal at Fourteen Streams station.
On the same day the British destroyed the railroad bridge at
Hbpetown. On the 18th the Boers destroyed the railroad
north and south of Kimberley. While these preparatory
measures were being taken on the western border, the prin-
cipal campaign was going on in the east, in Natal.
Operations in Natal.
On the night of October 11-12 the Boers advanced in sev-
eral columns: one from Sandstruit, on the road to Laings Nek,
occupying with artillery the defile of the railroad to New-
castle ;ai o her from Wakkerstroom ^outh through the Belebas
Hills to the Buffalo River, occupying its bridges; a third
marched from Utrecht on the road towards Glencoe; a fourth
from Doornberg to Rorkes Drift, occupying the cross-roads
leading to Glencoe and Ladysmith opposite Waschbank and
Wessels Nek stations; a fifth marched to the right of Majuba
Hill along the border to Botha Pass; a sixth from Vrede to
the Miiller Pass; and the Orange Boers (with ox train and 11
guns) from Albertina and Harrismith in three columns to
Van Reenens Pass, Tintwa Pass and Bezuidenhout Pass.
t



THE SECOND BOER WAR.
