On the 23^rd the crowd followed the commandos as they moved along the right bank of the Cornelis River. By late afternoon they had arrived at the farm Brakfontein to the south of the Witkoppe. De Wet had intended to skirt the Witkoppe to the east and travel north up the valley to Strydplaas but his scouts told him that the British held a strong position at the head of the valley. Unable to delay until the next morning, de Wet resolved to break through the British line at Kalkkloof. Colonel Michael Rimington’s line stretched from Pramkop, which practically overlooked the Wilge River, to Mooifontein where it joined with Colonel Julian Byng. From Vrede southwards the country is rolling grassland and the columns were able to maintain their line with little difficulty. The line swept over the Bothasberg, low hills rather than mountains as their name would seem to imply, but the Kalkkloof provided something more of an obstacle. The right of Byng’s line, the 7^th New Zealand Mounted Rifles, filed down across the valley of the Holspruit and formed their line along the crest of the next high ground to the south on the farm Langverwacht.