hout
great loss, in order to drive the enemy by force from their positions,
the burghers remained 'rock-fast' in their positions, and made no
progress at all. Thus, the enemy would either get reinforcements from
Pretoria or escape when it got dark. Both our flanks kept up a constant
fire on the slopes, and on the white kopje, but the shoulders were too
high for a proper aim, and the khakies lay fast behind the boulders and
in the clefts of the rocks.

Captain Kirsten, with about ten men, was ordered by General Coetzee to
hold a position to the right of the white kopje, and prevent the enemy
from taking it. This position consisted of a small rise, from which we
could fire at the kopje with a sight of 550 paces. To the right of this
rise, at a distance of 80 paces, was a small kloof overgrown with
bushes, and on the other side of the kloof ran a reef of rocks in the
direction of the white kopje. Here some of the burghers had before our
arrival forced eleven khakies to surrender, but they had not succeeded
in occupying the position, as some khakies had remained in the kloof,
and had shouted to them that they would not surrender. We were therefore
warned against that kloof. But while the others were shooting at the
enemy on the white kopje, one of our men went by himself to see if there
really were any khakies left there. He kept under cover wherever he
could--behind the rocks and behind the walls of an old kraal--and came
close up to the kloof without being fired at. On the other side, at a
distance of fifty paces, he heard a wounded man groaning and begging for
water; but, as he was alone, he did not venture to cross the kloof. He
returned to his comrades, but they would pay no attention to his request
to cross, as they thought the enemy were only waiting until more men
came under fire before they began firing.

We continued shooting at the white kopje, from which the enemy were
firing at us. The Captain had a good telescope, through which he could
distinctly see the faces of the enemy on the kopje. If a khaki showed
himself from behind a rock, the Captain pointed him out to one of our
marksmen, Alec Boshoff, who studied the position through the telescope,
and took such good aim that the Captain declared he could see the blood
on the wounded man's face.

The burgher who had gone to the kloof tried to persuade the rest to
cross with him to the other side, as he was sure the enemy were not
inclined to make any resistance