French, with his cavalry, pushed out feelers, and coasted along the edge of the advancing host.

His report warned White that if he would strike before all the scattered bands were united he must do so at once.

The wounded were sent down to Pietermaritzburg, and it would bear explanation why the non-combatants did not accompany them.

On the evening of the same day Joubert in person was said to be only six miles off, and a party of his men cut the water supply of the town.

The Klip, however, a fair-sized river, runs through Ladysmith, so that there was no danger of thirst.