As brigade after brigade and battery after battery touched at Cape Town, and were sent on instantly to Durban, it was evident that it was in this quarter that the supreme effort was to be made, and that there the light might at last break.

In club, and dining room, and railway car--wherever men met and talked--the same words might be heard: 'Wait until Buller moves.' The hopes of a great empire lay in the phrase.
It was upon October 30th that Sir George White had been thrust back into Ladysmith.

On November 2nd telegraphic communication with the town was interrupted.

On November 3rd the railway line was cut.

On November 10th the Boers held Colenso and the line of the Tugela.