Lord Kitchener now decided to evacuate all towns lying outside the line of communications, thus clearing the Boers' happy hunting-grounds of lootable convoys. Large camps of Boer families under British protection were formed at Brandfort and Kroonstad, and elsewhere near the railway lines. De Wet, driven hither and thither, now developed symptoms of unusual ferocity, which seemed to prove that such civilised habits as have been accredited to him owed their origin rather to the desire to obtain the respect and sympathy of Europe than to humanitarian motives. Now that intervention was out of the question, the commandant decided to "gang his ain gait," and gave rein to his bitterness. Three agents of the Peace Committee were taken as prisoners to De Wet's laager; the burghers were flogged by his orders, and a British subject, one Morgendaal, was flogged and afterwards shot. Piet De Wet endeavoured to mediate, to point out the futility of further bloodshed, and sent an appeal which was both pathetic and practical, an appeal which passed unheeded. An attack was made by night on Machadodorp, but before dawn on the 10th, the marauders had been routed, though a gallant young fellow, Lieutenant E. M. Harris, Royal Irish Fusiliers, lost his life in defending the post. At Zeerust, Durban, in the region of Krugersdorp and the stations Zuurfontein and Kaalfontein, the Boers made themselves offensive, and from all places, after brisk fighting, retired with loss. At Zuurfontein, on the 12th, owing to the enemy being clothed in kharki, they were able to deceive the sentry and capture him, but the detachments of the Lincolns under Lieutenant Cordeaux, and the detachments of the Norfolks under Lieutenant Atkinson, soon routed their assailants and shot their commandant, who was within seven yards of the trenches. While these subalterns were distinguishing themselves at Zuurfontein, another--Williams-Freeman of the Cheshires--was having a warm time at Kaalfontein; but he, with the small garrison of 120, after fighting for six hours in a blizzard from the Mausers of the foe, succeeded in driving them off without sustaining a single casualty. About this period Sir A. Milner was appointed Governor of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, retaining the High Commissionership; Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of the Cape Colony; Sir Henry McCallum, Governor of Natal; and Major Goold Adams, Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony. The Secretary of State for War now authorised the enlistment of 5000 Imperial Yeomen to make up for the wastage which had occurred in that force at the front, and further contributions of troops were also invited from the colonies. The invitations, it is almost needless to say, were accepted with alacrity bordering on enthusiasm.