On the 27th of May Major Collett, with the Jansenville District Mounted Horse, encountered the Boers, who thought this a fine opportunity for attacking raw material. But the local force was tougher than they thought, and moreover Lovat's Scouts, who had been pursuing Malan for a long time, were at hand. These promptly came to the rescue, upon which the enemy fled, leaving Malan--one of the best of the Boer leaders--in their hands. Malan was one of the "irreconcilables," and he had rejected the offer of a safe conduct to attend the Vereeniging conference, which at this time was taking place with a view to the signing of peace. THE SITUATION--APRIL AND MAY It was officially computed that by May 1902 the British forces had been reduced through the South African war by 1055 officers and 20,520 men who died in South Africa, 1 officer and 131 men returned as missing and prisoners, 7 officers and 487 men who died after having been sent home as invalids, and 5531 invalided men who left the Service as unfit. These figures represent a total of 27,732. The following figures, taken from a table published by Colonel Henderson, Professor of Military Art and History at the Staff College, in his "Life of Stonewall Jackson," may be found interesting for purposes of comparison with the British losses:-- Strength. Killed and wounded. Percentage. Talavera, 1809 20,500 6,250 30 Albuera, 1811 8,200 3,990 48 Barossa, 1811 4,400 1,210 27 Salamanca, 1812 26,000 3,386 13 Quatre Bras, 1815 12,000 2,504 20 Waterloo, 1815 23,991 6,932 29 Firozshah, 1845 16,000 2,415 15 Sobraon, 1846 15,500 2,063 13 Chillianwallah, 1849 15,000 2,388 15 Alma, 1854 21,500 2,002 9 Inkerman, 1854 7,464 2,357 31 Of the Boer losses no exact total could be arrived at.