ther 800 yards to get out of harm's way.

The two men we had sent ahead--what became of them? Alas! they rode into
the jaws of death, for when they discovered the enemy they were hardly
15 yards from them. "Hands up!" resounded from behind the wall. The men,
rather than surrender and sacrifice their commando, made an ill-fated
attempt at escape. In the twinkling of an eye they were shot down. The
one--a young Trichard from Cradock--was dead on the spot; three bullets
penetrated his body. The other--young Wessels from Winburg--was wounded
in the leg and captured.

These two brave young men were the means of saving Wessels and myself
either from being captured or shot. And not only that, but their gallant
action, in which the one forfeited his life, and the other a limb,
proved the salvation of the whole commando. If they had surrendered
Wessels and I would probably have gone in the same direction, and the
commando would have followed, and so all of us would have been in a
terrible predicament. But they had risked their lives to save us from
certain destruction.

Failing to ford the river at that drift, we proceeded down-stream with
the hope of crossing it somewhere else. To our disappointment the river
had risen to such a degree that the only transit still left could be a
bridge. Now there was but one far down the stream, and it was very
doubtful whether that was not held by the enemy. Anyway, we were going
to try, and so marching almost all the whole night we arrived at the
bridge a little after sunrise. How glad we were to find the bridge still
unoccupied! We had just reached it in time, for half an hour after we
had gone over the British took possession of it. They had now completed
their cordon; but we--were out of the circle.

On the 22nd of the same month we were once again in tight
corners--surrounded by three columns.

As we found no rest either for ourselves or our animals in the
south-eastern districts of the Orange Free State, we resolved to go to
the Winburg and Ladybrand districts.

The enemy had pitched their camps all along the main road from
Reddersburg to Dewetsdorp, and from there to Wepener. These stations
were from six to eight miles apart, and formed a kind of fence. Through
this line we had to pass, as well as the blockhouse line extending from
Bloemfontein to Ladybrand, _via_ Thaba 'Nchu.

We left at dusk, got safely through the camp-line, and rode on till 2
A.M., when we arrived at a certa