Having seen how the parent scheme, the invasion of the Cape Colony, was frustrated, it is necessary to turn to scheme two, and follow General French in the remarkable operations which defeated Botha's designs. A considerable concentration of Boers, under the Commandants Louis Botha, Smuts, Spruyt, and Christian Botha, had taken place in Ermelo, Carolina, and Bethel, which districts constituted depôts for the supply of the enemy's forces. The Commander-in-chief therefore decided to sweep the country between the Delagoa and Natal Railway lines, from Johannesburg to the Swazi and Zulu frontiers, and to clear it of supplies and families. With this object in view, on the 28th of January the following columns were concentrated from the meridian of Springs: Major-General Paget, Brigadier Alderson, Colonel E. Knox (18th Hussars), Lieutenant-Colonel Allenby (6th Dragoons), Lieutenant-Colonel Pulteney (Scots Guards), and Brigadier-General Dartnell (Commandant of Volunteers, Natal). The troops--the southern columns under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir John French--were to form a north and south line between the railway, and thus drive the enemy before them to Ermelo. They were commanded from north to south in the order shown above. While this line was advancing, Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell and Lieutenant-Colonel Spens, moving a march south from Middelburg and Wonderfontein, were to act as side stops, while Major-General Smith-Dorrien, with a force 3000 strong, was to advance from Belfast _viâ_ Carolina to Lake Chrissie, for the purpose of preventing the Boers from breaking north-east. A weak column, under Lieutenant-Colonel Colville (Rifle Brigade), was to work south of Colonel Dartnell to cover the movement of supplies, first from Greylingstad to the north, and then from Standerton to Ermelo. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE OPERATIONS AND DISPOSITIONS OF TROOPS IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL] Eventually, owing to the movements of De Wet, General Paget was recalled from this sphere of action, and his place was taken by Colonel Campbell. General Alderson's and Knox's lines of advance were slightly diverted to the north, and the line between them was filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Pulteney, who originally was to have been held in reserve.