rce with which we had been engaged,
numbering about two hundred men, belonged to the column which was now
coming up. As we could not drive the English from the kraal before the
arrival of the reinforcements, we had to give way.

Although I had given orders that all the waggons which had managed to
escape should be sent on to Reitz, in the actual event only a few carts
went there. The women had left the waggons behind, close to the hill at
the foot of the English position, where I could not see them, in order
to await the result. They had forgotten what I had told them, namely,
that they were to get away as quickly as possible. This order I had
given in the expectation that a reinforcement might arrive at any
moment.

After I had ordered a few men to bring the wounded into a safe place, I
retired with the remainder, some forty-five in number. Among these was
Veldtcornet Serfontein and his burghers.

The English now directed their fire upon the women's laager, to compel
it to come to a standstill. Whether any of the women and children were
killed or wounded I was unable to ascertain, but it was horrible to see
the bombs bursting over their heads. Thus the women again fell into the
hands of the enemy.

With four of my adjutants and Piet Fourie, I succeeded in driving away
quite one thousand five hundred head of cattle. The bombs fell heavily
on them also, but I got them safely away. Late that evening we arrived
at the spot where we had left President Steyn, only to find that he had
gone away. He had been obliged to retreat before the force which the
previous evening had been at Duminy Drift, and which had passed near him
during the day. The President had accordingly gone some twelve miles in
the direction of Lindley.

It was one of the coldest nights we had that winter, and our pack-horses
which were carrying the blankets were with the President. It was
impossible for us to sleep without any covering on such a night as that,
and so we were obliged to march on. We had moreover to look for
something to eat, for we had had nothing since breakfast. Our horses had
never had their saddles off from the time we went out to fight until we
arrived about midnight at the President's camp.

[Footnote 96: Stripping.]

[Footnote 97: The previous evening we had received a report of two
English camps on the Wilge River: One at Duminy Drift, the other at
Steildrift--under General Elliott. They were led by Piet de Wet and
other Nati