But little was done by General Botha in the Eastern Transvaal; but General Chris. Botha, one of the best generals in the war, gave General French a great deal of trouble in the Ermelo district. French with his 11,000 men could make no headway and had to content himself with burning farms. In the Free State, during this month, General De Wet was having a very warm time. About 50,000 men were trying constantly to surround him, but he was too smart for them. He continued to capture and turn loose many men, and kept the English in a constant tremble. During the same month, the English left General de la Rey severely alone in order to concentrate their whole attention on General De Wet, who was fairly disgracing the English army and driving Roberts and Kitchener crazy. Lord Roberts had declared the war at an end, and here was General De Wet daily tearing his army to pieces. He hates De Wet yet. During December--although the war was at an end,--there was some very warm and interesting fighting, Generals De Wet and de la Rey being the principal actors. In fact, there was so much fighting, and the Boers were so successful, that Lord Roberts pulled up stakes, fled for London and left Kitchener to continue his dirty work. I assure him that he could not have left a man more capable for such work than Kitchener, and he must have known his man pretty well. During this month General Louis Botha was inactive. General Ben Viljoen played havoc, however, with the English at Helvetia on top of the fortified mountain just north of Machadadorp. With 150 men General Viljoen made a night march and attack on Helvetia forts, took several of them, over a hundred prisoners and the 4.7 gun marked in big letters, "Lady Roberts." Many of the officers and men were killed or wounded and his night venture was a great success.