The plucky little garrison of Phillipolis, which for some days had been withstanding the assault of the Boers, were relieved on the 24th, by the Imperial Yeomanry acting in conjunction with two other columns, and two days later, General Kitchener attacked by night the Boers around Krugerspoort, and captured their laager. General French, ever active, swept his way from Bethel to Heidelberg, fighting continuously, and gathering up prisoners and stores; while General C. Knox on the 27th harassed De Wet's force in its retreat from Barton's stalwart Fusiliers, and succeeded in depriving the Dutchmen of two guns and three waggons, while U Battery R.H.A. blew up another ammunition waggon by a shell. The engagement was another feather in the cap of De Lisle, whose handling of the troops was excellent. Of the two guns taken from De Wet one was a Krupp. It was captured by the New South Wales Mounted Infantry. The other belonged to U Battery, and was captured by Le Gallais's mounted troops, assisted, much to the satisfaction of the officers and men, by U Battery. General Hunter engaged in operations for the purpose of driving the Boers from the line near Ventersburg, where they had been intent on mischief for some time, and in the fighting on the 30th a gallant officer of Artillery, Major Hanwell, commanding the 39th Battery, received such serious injuries that he succumbed. A company of the 3rd Battalion of the Buffs became hotly engaged, and behaved "with conspicuous steadiness," while the Surrey Regiment, charging grandly, sent the Boers scudding into space. To those at home who ignore the truth of the German's dictum that "invading armies melt away like snow," it was a matter of wonder what became of the enormous force of some 200,000 men which was reported to be in South Africa, and how it happened that, with so many troops engaged, the proportionately small number of Boers attacking them achieved any success whatever. A glance at the map of the main railway routes will serve to show the melting-away process. At every bridge and at every culvert were camps; at every village and at every town were posted portions of the army. From Cape Town to Komati, from Durban to Potchefstroom, from De Aar to Mafeking, from Mafeking to Pretoria, and from Mafeking to Rhodesia the British forces were distributed, and far from wondering why the regiments thus trickling along the country failed to annihilate the Boers, those who knew were inclined to marvel that there were any regiments to spare for giving chase to the marauders in their desultory schemes of annoyance. The British duty of sticking fast was infinitely more arduous than the Boer one of slipping away.