Before the middle of the month Sir William's appointment and the details of his command were gazetted, and he received orders to sail on the Union-Castle Line mail steamer _Moor_ on Saturday, October 21, from Southampton. His departure from Colchester was fixed for Friday the 20th. Although it was scarcely ten months since he had been resident in the district, the General had, as usual, become very popular with all classes. The Mayor and Corporation insisted on being given an opportunity of expressing their congratulations and good wishes. "The Council," they said, "felt that they were parting not only with a distinguished officer and an ornament to Her Majesty's service, but with a brother citizen." [Sidenote: Off to the Cape] Crowds of friends were assembled on the platform that Friday afternoon, every officer of the garrison was there in uniform, and there were many persons who had come in by train to cry "God-speed," for not a few had husbands, sons, and brothers already at the front. Many people at that time thought that the war would be a very short affair after the arrival of the reinforcements, and it was in this spirit that a lady in her farewell greeting said: "Good-bye, General--good luck to you; but I fear it will all be over before you get out." To which the General replied so gravely that she felt reproved: {220} "Make no mistake. We have a long tough job before us." In the evening papers that same day the news of the battle of Talana Hill was published. This was the first conflict of the three years' war, and very naturally the account of it added fervour to the public interest in the official departures. Two troopships were leaving Southampton that Saturday as well as the Union-Castle liner which was to carry Sir Redvers Buller and his three divisional commanders. The public knew by what train the officers would travel, and both at Waterloo and at Southampton the popular enthusiasm was expressed with extraordinary vehemence. {221} CHAPTER XV 1899 CAPE COLONY It was with great reluctance that Sir Redvers Buller had been persuaded to give any forecast to the War Office in London of the disposition of troops he intended to make on reaching Capetown. But whatever these may have been, he found on his arrival that the situation had so materially changed that he had to rearrange his plans to suit the emergency. The Boers were bringing so much pressure to bear on Ladysmith, where Sir George White had established his headquarters, and on Kimberley, that he decided to send the First Division under Lord Methuen to the relief of the latter place, and to employ in Natal the Second Division and the two brigades of which the Third Division had been originally composed. It seemed at the same time so important to reassure the loyal colonists in Eastern Cape Colony that he sent Gatacre there with one battalion of infantry and a promise of speedy reinforcements.