I think the khakies also
must have been bored to death on those long, fruitless journeys. We left
Bethany towards evening, and reached the Magalies Mountains the
following morning after a tiring journey in the night past Sterkstroom,
through the Kromriverskloof to the foot of Onuapadnek, or
Boschfonteinnek. (I learnt the names from the inhabitants.) In the kloof
we passed the burnt remains of the convoy that was taken by Commandant
Boshoff--who joined De la Rey after having taken Steyn to his
destination--and his brave little troop of burghers. They were obliged
to abandon the convoy, however, on the arrival of reinforcements for the
enemy. A sickening stench came from the corpses that they had left
unburied in their flight.

We rested a few hours at the top of the steep nek. On descending on the
other side we came, to our mutual surprise, upon De la Key's lager at
the foot of the mountain on Barnard's farm.

XI

BATTLE OF NOOITGEDACHT

We were busy all evening baking vet-koek (a kind of scone fried in
lard), as we had received the order to be ready to leave the following
morning at one o'clock, and to take provisions sufficient for two
days. Although our officers were beginning to see the advisability of
keeping their plans secret, we were able to guess that we were going
to attack General Clements' camp, an hour's ride further east at
Nooitgedacht--particularly as the chances of success, in case of an
eventual attack, were being discussed by some of the officers. The
general opinion was that Clements' force was 5,000 strong.

We left quite three-quarters of an hour later than the fixed time in the
early morning of December 13, 1900, and recrossed the steep, narrow
neck, took a way to our right in the Kromriverskloof, making a sharp
turn to Elandskrans, where a strong outpost had been placed by the enemy
on the Magalies Mountains.

That was the crust through which we had to bite to get at the dainties
of the booty. It cannot be denied that victory and booty, in our
impoverished circumstances, were very close together in our thoughts.
The enemy's camp lay at the foot of the long, high cliff that forms a
precipice on that side of the mountain, while the slope of the mountain
on our side was not steep, and there were a great many footholds and
boulders. The artillery had been left in the neck of the pass to protect
the lagers. Beyers, with some Zoutpansbergers, turned away from us to
the right to reach Ela