e it to other pens to
describe how the British looted our property, wantonly killed our
cattle, and devastated our farms. In the course of this narrative my
intention is to mention only those cases which I saw with my own eyes.
The reader, perusing them, may well pause in surprise and cry out, "Can
such things be possible?" To such a question I have only one
answer--"They actually occurred, and so my only course is to record
them."

But enough of these digressions. Let me return to my proper subject--the
story of my own experiences and doings in the great struggle which took
place between Boer and Briton.

As I have already said, I had been commandeered, and, together with the
other burghers of the Heilbron commando, had just reached Harrismith, on
the road to the south-eastern frontier.

During our stay there the other commandos, in obedience to Commando Law,
joined us, and we proceeded to elect a Commander-in-Chief. The
Commandants present were Steenekamp, of Heilbron; Anthonie Lombaard, of
Vrede; C.J. De Villiers, of Harrismith; Hans Nande, of Bethlehem;
Marthinus Prinsloo, of Winburg; and C. Nel, of Kroonstad. The result of
the voting was that Prinsloo was chosen for the supreme command.

Then the burghers of Winburg selected Mr. Theunissen as their
Commandant. He fulfilled his duties admirably, until he was made a
prisoner of war. This happened when he was leading a courageous attack
at Paardeberg in order to relieve General Piet Cronje.

From Harrismith our commando advanced to within six miles of the
Natal-Free State frontier, and camped not far from Bezuidenhoutspas, in
the Drakensberg. This imposing range of mountains, which then formed the
dividing line between Boer and British territory, slopes down gently
into the Free State, but on the Natal side is very steep and
precipitous.

The day after we had elected our Commander-in-Chief I was sent by
Commandant Steenekamp, with a small detachment of burghers, to the Natal
frontier. I saw nothing of the English there, for they had abandoned all
their positions on the frontier shortly before the beginning of the war.
When I returned in the evening I found that the burghers had chosen me,
in my absence, as Vice-Commandant[6] under Commandant Steenekamp.

It was at five o'clock on the afternoon of that day--the 11th of
October, 1899--that the time, which the ultimatum allowed to England,
expired. The British had not complied with the terms which the South
Afri