I saw a Pietermaritzburg paper in the naval camp
just now; there are about twenty thousand men on the sea at the present
moment, besides those in the colony, and two more divisions are being
formed. So it is safe to come right in the long run. But at present, if
those twenty-five thousand Boers opposite to us were not there now, they
would be riding all over Cape Colony, and if Buller were not to keep on
hammering away here a good many of them would be off at once. They say
Ladysmith can hold out for another three months. By that time there
ought to be such a big force in the Orange State that the Boers won't
dare to stop here any longer, and no end of loss of life will be
avoided.
"I never thought that you were a croaker before," Field said, "except
just before the last fight; but certainly things have gone very badly
lately. Three disasters in seven or eight days are a facer; but I cannot
think that we shall not succeed next time. When Warren's division is up
Buller will have over thirty thousand men with him, in spite of our
losses the other day, and we ought to be able to do it with that."
"Well, we shall see, Field. I hope you are right."
The news of Methuen's repulse and the terrible losses in the Highland
brigade, and of Gatacre's disaster, cast a greater gloom over Buller's
army than their own failure had done.
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