GENERAL SIR W. PENN SYMONS, Who fell in the assault on the Boer position commanding Dundee.] But on October 1 good fortune once more intervened to save our empire. The Transvaal commandoes had assembled, but transport and commissariat were so defective that the Boers were in danger of starvation. The want of rain, too, had left the veldt bare and dry, without grass or sustenance for horses and cattle. It would, therefore, be almost impossible without commissariat for men and beasts to subsist. Delay was thus forced upon the Boers. The transport arrangements were improved, while the commandoes watched eagerly for the first rains, due in early October, which were to be the signal of action for them, and of slaughter for the hapless British soldiery. [Illustration: [_Photo by Gregory._ GOOD BYE, DADDY! A Pipe-Major of the Scots Guards starting for the front.] [Sidenote: Disposition of the Boer forces.] [Sidenote: [OCT. 1899.] The main Boer forces threatened Natal, which colony, from its passionate loyalty to the mother country, was peculiarly odious to Mr. Kruger. The Transvaalers were assembled, 15,000 to 20,000 strong, at Zandspruit, just across the frontier of the extreme northern angle of Natal; the Free Staters, 10,000 or more strong, were to the west of the many passes which cross the Drakensberg range, threatening the whole north of the colony. The lie of the frontier hereabouts gave the enemy great advantages. Natal sends up a narrow wedge-shaped strip of country between the Free State and the Transvaal. From Ladysmith, at its base, to the most northerly point, this wedge is 50 miles long. How to defend the wedge with a small force was the British problem. If a force were placed at the northernmost point it would be liable to be cut off and surrounded by the Free Staters crossing the passes and seizing positions in its rear, while the Transvaalers attacked in front. If stationed farther south the same risk remained, though it would be easier to retire. If the whole wedge were abandoned the political effect would be disastrous. [Illustration: LAING'S NEK. The "Nek" is the ridge between the two hills; it was the scene of a battle in 1881, and over it the Boers swarmed into Natal in 1899.] [Illustration: ELANDSLAAGTE: THE SCENE OF THE BATTLE.] [Sidenote: Positions of the British at Dundee and Ladysmith.]