On the same day Colonel Blomfield (at this time in command of the Lancashire Brigade) achieved a great success in the neighbourhood of Vryheid. There, three days previously, the Boers had attacked and had been driven off with a loss of about 100 killed and wounded, to our six killed, nineteen wounded, and thirty missing. Unfortunately two gallant officers of the Royal Lancaster Regiment were killed, Colonel Gawne and Lieutenant Woodgate. Now the avenging Colonel swooped down on the Dutchmen at Scheepers Nek, and drove them off in confusion, securing a quantity of arms and stock, and inflicting heavy punishment. Two Naval Volunteers, whose corps behaved splendidly, were killed. Lord Methuen at the same time was helping to balance the Nooitgedacht account by attacking two Boer positions in the region of Ottoshoop, and taking unto himself fifteen ox waggons and Cape carts, 15,000 rounds of ammunition, 1460 head of cattle, and 2000 sheep. Unfortunately the roll of prisoners was small; for the art of running away is simpler than the art of holding on, and the chase ended, as chases usually ended, by the capture of a handful of prisoners and a prodigious haul of waggons and cattle. In the Zastron district a party of the 2nd Division of Brabant's Horse--mostly raw recruits--got into difficulties on the 13th. They became detached from the main body, were caught in a defile, and 120 of them were taken prisoners. The captain in command was wounded in several places, and the Colonials lost eight killed and eighteen wounded, three of whom since died. At this time De Wet was retreating north, flying towards the Thabanchu region from the pursuit of Knox, and struggling to break through the British cordon. After delivering several ineffectual assaults on the various British positions, on the 14th, he in person led a gallant attack--charged through the British lines, and, with the loss of thirty men killed and wounded, twelve prisoners, some waggons of ammunition, a 15-pounder gun (taken at Dewetsdorp), a "pom-pom," and many horses and mules, succeeded once more in making his escape!