Sought out by Dr. Leyds on the outbreak of hostilities, Count de Villebois-Mareuil, who retired from active service in the French Army in 1896, hastened to Africa, and set to work to elaborate a plan of campaign in Natal. He is said to have been responsible for the disposition of the Boers at Colenso and elsewhere on the Tugela, and to have been present and active in directing the repulse of Buller's attack. He was killed in an action near Boshof, in the Orange Free State, where he and some seventy men were surrounded and killed or captured by Lord Methuen, April 5, 1900.] In their management of the battle the Boers had the assistance and counsel of Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil, a French officer of distinction, who, at a huge salary, had been enlisted to advise their generals. But they paid little or no attention to his counsel. At the time it was supposed that the Boer victory was largely to be attributed to him. We now know that it was due to the errors of the British War Office and the mistakes of the British generals. [Illustration: STARTING ON THE FATAL MARCH: ROYAL IRISH RIFLES MARCHING FROM BUSHMAN'S HOEK IN PREPARATION FOR THE BATTLE OF STORMBERG.] CHAPTER VII. THE BATTLE OF STORMBERG. Mistakes of the Boer Generals--British withdraw from Naauwpoort and Stormberg--General Gatacre takes command--Advance of the Boers--Omnibus Horses for the Artillery--Conditions of successful attack--Gatacre moves upon Stormberg--The forces detrain at Molteno--The wrong road taken--The column surprised--The fight--Fatigue of the British troops--A gun abandoned--Order to retreat given--The dead and wounded left--Narrow escape of the armoured train--The return to Molteno--British losses--Disastrous results--The Boers seize Colesberg--British re-occupy Naauwpoort--Arrival of General French. [Illustration: KAFFRARIAN RIFLES' CAMP AND MAXIM GUNS, BUSHMAN'S HOEK.] [Sidenote: Mistakes of the Boer Generals.] [Sidenote: NOV. 1899.] _The Boers Miss an Opportunity._]