On arriving near the river he found the crossings in possession of the English commands, but he must cross, for he was anxious to go far to the north in the Free State, where he felt that his presence was necessary. He sent a detachment to a certain point up the river with instructions to show themselves, and in case the English advanced they were to retire, put spurs to their horses and overtake the command while crossing the river. The scheme worked beautifully, for as soon as the English saw the detachment they concluded that it was De Wet's advance guard and they prepared to attack him. The detachment played its part well, by going through the form of signalling to the rear. The English made all possible haste to advance and attack De Wet and if possible hold him engaged until their other commands should come. As all were on the lookout for him, of course the different commands would lose no time in reaching the scene of action. The English completely abandoned the crossing in front of De Wet and made a hurried advance on the detachment. When 1200 yards away the detachment opened fire on the English and a short skirmish took place. At this moment De Wet rushed to the river, crossed it and put his men in fighting order to protect the detachment which he expected every moment. After firing a few shots, the detachment dropped behind the hill from which they had been firing, mounted their horses, put in the spurs and soon joined the wily De Wet across the river. Again the English were easily outwitted and De Wet was once more in the Free State. He had to fight his way all through the Free State, but the English were afraid of him, and he reached his destination at Heilbron without loss of time. He had now made a round trip of about a thousand miles, had had many skirmishes, successfully fought two battles and landed home with but little loss. His trip had a great moral effect on the English army, the people of Cape Colony and Cape Town. The news of his invasion of Cape Colony had spread all over South Africa and had reached London. The English element in Cape Town and throughout the colony were crazy with fright, for all men were sure that De Wet would lay waste the country as the English had the Transvaal and Free State. The English forces in the Colony were concentrated that they might make a successful defense when De Wet should attack. Lord Kitchener and his numerous force of cricketers felt the cold chill running down their backs and were at their wit's end to make out a report that would so mislead the English papers that they would not express any regret at having presented Lord Roberts with $500,000 and an earldom for his proclamations, and for declaring that the war was at an end. All were so undone and such nervous wrecks that they did not remember that Conan Doyle had also declared that the war was over.