The tiny British garrisons had at General Buller's order evacuated Naauwpoort and Stormberg, the first on the 2nd and the second on the 3rd of November. From Naauwpoort the British fell back to De Aar, and from Stormberg to Sterkstroom and Queenstown, the latter place only ninety miles from East London. There they remained a fortnight in hourly danger of attack, waiting for the tardy transports that conveyed the Army Corps. Meantime the Boers occupied Barkly East, Aliwal North, Jamestown, Burghersdorp and Colesberg. At Aliwal North they seized a loyal Dutch magistrate, Mr. Hugo, and made him stand upon the bridge while they were crossing, as they were fully under the impression that it had been mined. This gentleman displayed such devotion to his Queen, and such unswerving fidelity to Britain, that he had afterwards to fly for his life, leaving behind him his wife and children. [Illustration: [_Photo by L W. Ford, Queenstown._ QUEENSTOWN: THE TOWN HALL. The photograph represents the principal street in Queenstown as decorated on the occasion of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.] [Sidenote: General Gatacre takes command.] [Sidenote: [NOV. 18-19, 1899.] On the 15th an armoured train with a small detachment of the Berkshires reconnoitred to a point well beyond Stormberg, and returned, without incident and without seeing anything of the enemy, to Queenstown. On November 18 General Gatacre himself arrived with his staff from Capetown, accompanied by a portion of the 2nd Royal Irish Rifles. [Illustration: [_Photo by Cumming, Aldershot._ LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FORBES GATACRE, K.C.B., D.S.O. Born 1843. Entered the Army in 1862; was Instructor of Military Surveying at the Royal Military College, 1875-9; Deputy-Adjutant and Q.M.G. with the Hazara Expedition, 1888; served in Burma, 1889, Chitral, 1895, Soudan, 1898, and commanded the British Division at the battle of Khartoum; in command of South-Eastern District, 1898; appointed to command the 3rd Division in South Africa, with rank of Lieut.-General, October, 1899.] [Illustration: PRESIDENT STEYN AND HIS GUARD OF HONOUR OF FREE STATE BURGHERS.] [Illustration: RAILWAY CUTTING AT STORMBERG: BRINGING UP TROOPS IN AN ARMOURED TRAIN.] [Sidenote: NOV. 21-DEC. 1, 1899.] _Gatacre's Reinforcements Diverted._]