spot which we had fixed upon for the explosion, hollowed out the gravel,
placed the machine under the sleeper, and covered it up again, throwing
the gravel that was left to a good distance from the line. After this,
the guards could not discover where the machine was placed. They trebled
the troops on the line in consequence.

The month of July had passed, and we wondered what August held in store
for us. The customary fights of the different commandos still went on;
here five, here ten, here thirty of the English were killed, wounded or
made prisoners. If these numbers had been put down they would have
mounted up to a considerable total; but the war was not of such a nature
that an office could be opened to record them. Reports of battles were
sent to me, and after I had allowed them to accumulate for three or four
weeks, they were sent to the different Vice-Commandants-in-Chief for
their general information, and then torn up.

Many reports and much correspondence concerning the beginning of the war
have been preserved. I gave them to a trustworthy friend with
instructions to bury them, but do not know where he placed them, as he
was taken prisoner later on, and I have never been able to find out
where he was sent to. These documents are of great value, and ought to
be published.

I was on the farm of Blijdschap, between Harrismith and Bethlehem--my
English friends, Generals Knox, Elliott and Paget, with their Colonels
Rimington, Byng, Baker, etc., etc., will not have forgotten where
Blijdschap is--when I received a letter from Lord Kitchener, enclosing
his Proclamation of the 7th of August, 1901.

This proclamation was as follows:

"By his Excellency Baron Kitchener of Khartoum, G.C.B., K.C.M.G.,
General Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in South Africa;
High Commissioner of South Africa, and Administrator of the
Transvaal, etc.

"Whereas the former Orange Free State and South African Republic
are annexed to His Majesty's possessions;

"And whereas His Majesty's forces have now been for some
considerable time in full possession of the Government seats of
both the above-mentioned territories, with all their public
offices and means of administration, as well as of the principal
towns and the whole railway;

"And whereas the great majority of burghers of the two late
Republics (which number thirty-five thousand over and above those