grazing less of a problem for their horses.
'Yes. ' Sean saw they were all listening now. He thought quickly,
cursing the wine that had dulled his brain. 'They will avoid battle,
run from it and swing round to jab at the flanks, then run again.'
'Supplies?' asked the Brigadier.
'The veld is their storeroom, each farm upon it a haven.
'Ammunition, weapons, clothing? ' persisted the Brigadier.
'Every British soldier they capture or kill will provide a brand new
Lee, Metford rifle and a hundred rounds of ammunition. ' 'But how long
can they live like that?' Garry spoke indulgently, as though to a
child. 'How far can they run?' He glanced around at the others
seeking their support, but everyone was watching Sean.
'How wide is the veld, that is how far they can run. ' Sean turned on
him, stung by the tone of his voice. 'My God, you know them.
Hardship is a way of life with them. Pride, the watchword that will
carry them on.'
'You paint a pretty picture. ' Garry smiled easily. 'It is unusual to
find such appreciation of grand strategy among the rank and file.' Then
he looked higher up the table once more with an emphasis that excluded
Sean from the conversation. 'As I was saying, General Acheson, I
believe, ' 'One moment please, Colonel.' Acheson in turn excluded him
and put his question to Sean. 'If you had the running of it, what plan
of action would you adopt?'
Across the table Garrick Courtney coughed in a manner intended to
inform the company that his brother was about to make a fool of
himself.
It was not lost on Sean. 'The problem revolves around one single fact.
The mobility of the enemy,' he stated grimly.
'Your perception does you great credit,' murmured Garry.
'Our first problem is to contain him and then to wear him down, ' Sean
went on, trying to ignore the taunts of his brother.
'Contain him?' The Brigadier fired the question.
'Herd him into a limited area,' Sean explained.
'How?'
'Say, by a series of set fortifications,' Sean suggested.
'Correct me if I'm wrong, but you propose to divide the whole of the
high veld into paddocks and farm the enemy as one would dairy cattle?'
Garry was still smiling.
'The new blockhouse lines along the line of rail are proving effective.
It should be possible to extend them across the open veld, every time
the enemy had to pass through them he would be subjected to a mauling
by the garrisons and his position would immediately be pin, pointed.
'The cost would be enormous,' Acheson pointed out.
'Not as great as supporting an army of a quarter of a million men in
the field for another five years,' Sean brushed his objection aside, he
was well set on his run of ideas. 'Then, within the defined areas
small well, mounted bodies of men, unimpeded by supply wagons and
artillery, would be used to raid the commandos, hitting them in an
unrelenting series of raids and ambushes. Driving them on to the
