_schanze_.

I saw one of our men creeping on till he was close under the enemy's
fort. Directly afterwards I observed that rifles were being handed over
the _schanze_ to this man. Later on it appeared that the man who had
done this valiant deed was none other than Veldtcornet Wessels, of
Harrismith. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Commandant, to
take the place of Commandant Truter; later on again, he became
Vice-Commander-in-Chief.

Our burghers could now enter this fort without incurring much danger.
But they had hardly done so, when the two English guns, which had been
placed to the west of the town, opened fire on them. When this
happened, I gave orders to my men that a great _schanze_ of the English,
about eighty paces from the one which we had just taken, should be
stormed. This was successfully carried out by Veldtcornet Wessels, who
had with him about twenty-five men. The enemy meanwhile kept up a heavy
fire on our storming party, from some _schanzes_ which lay still further
away; our men, therefore, had nothing left them but to take these also.
Then while our men kept in cover behind the fort which they had just
taken, the English left the _schanzes_ upon which the storming party had
been firing so fiercely; this, however, Veldtcornet Wessels and his
burghers did not know, because, after having rested a little, and
desiring to renew the attack, they only saw that everything was quiet
there, and that they were now only under the fire of guns from the
western forts, which lay right above the town. I also had not observed
that the forts had been abandoned.

Just as the sun was setting, and when it was too late to do anything,
General Philip Botha, with his two sons, Louis and Charlie, rushed up to
Veldtcornet Wessels and told him what the real state of affairs was.

I now saw columns of black smoke rising from the mill of Mr. Wessels
Badenhorst, to the south of the town. Everybody was saying: "The English
are burning their commissariat; they are going to surrender!"

The English had a strong fort on the north, near the place where
Commandant De Vos was stationed. In order to take this _schanze_ one
would have been obliged to cross 200 metres of open ground. Moreover, it
was so placed that it was the only part of the English possession which
De Vos's guns commanded. Accordingly, when the sun had gone down, I sent
orders to him that he was to storm this _schanze_ before daybreak on the
following morn