On the 16th instant Colonel Buller's second patrol returned at noon to General Wood's camp at the Wolf's kraal, and had been so successful in its reconnoitring operations that its officers were able to report that no large bodies of Zulus were within twenty miles of the Blood river, or, indeed, anywhere between the White Umvolosi and the Buffalo river. The same evening on which the patrol started it bivouacked at Kopje Allein, and, indeed, it was owing to the excellent reports made by Buller and his staff that the place was chosen as one of the links in the line of advance. A few Zulus there were, it is true, hovering about in the distance, and attempts were made by feigned attacks and feigned retreats to lure the troops into ambush, but Buller was far too old a soldier to be taken in by such wiles. When the men had got steadily on the summit of the hill they were exploring, the Zulu skirmishers disappeared into some of the caves surrounding Sirayo's old kraal, and nothing but some huts full of mealies could be found. The patrol that night slept on the slopes of the Ingutu mountains, and the following morning scouted in a southerly direction in rear of the Ingwe range, as far as the White Umvolosi, showing in a tolerably plain manner that the country about there was quite denuded of its population, at least between the Buffalo river and the White Umvolosi, while to the eastward and the northward of the latter river there were plenty of Zulus and cattle, but no large or important bodies were assembled north of the Isandaka range. The Prince Imperial had won all hearts during these three days in the saddle and night bivouac, and was seen to have considerably improved in health since his last visit to the camp.