But much more was required than was necessary. In place of the ponderous train accompanying each column—a fruitful source of difficulty and danger on the march by day, if a protection when halted at night—the advance should have been made from entrenched depôts in the lightest possible order. A rapid advance on the king’s kraal in compact formation, and, wherever the enemy might stand, a decisive battle fought—the result of which, with the most ordinary care, could not be doubtful—and the war would be virtually over. There need have been no weary inactivity, with its following of disease and death, and the saving to the country would have been enormous. Supplies were pushed forward from the Lower Tugela to the Inyezane, where a fort was constructed (Fort Chelmsford); and from the base up to Conference Hill—the supplies required by Lord Chelmsford before an advance could be made being two months’ with the forces advancing, and one month’s at the advanced depôts.[169] But little further was done through this period of indecision and vacillation, in which plans were made only to be changed, and orders given one day to be countermanded the next. Sickness laid its heavy hand on many a man—exposure and inaction in the first place, then want of proper care and nursing, gradually swelling the death-roll. Before the war, and throughout its course, a body of ladies of Natal were most anxious to place themselves under the orders of the medical staff as nurses for the sick and wounded; but their offers, though repeatedly pressed upon the authorities, were declined. It was at this period that the following message was telegraphed by Lord Chelmsford to the High Commissioner: