m were disposed in little heaps.
All that the repairing party had to do there was to replace the lengths
of line, couple them, and shovel in the ballast. But the mile on which
the trained engineer had been at work probably took four times as long
to repair. Here a dynamite cap had been attached to the middle of each
rail, with the result that there was a piece about six inches long blown
out of every length, and that meant that all the old way had to be taken
up and an entirely new one laid down. One thing I did envy this
simple-minded enemy of ours, and that was the pleasure he must have
experienced in doing one bit of damage. Towards one culvert the line
sloped down in a long gradient, and on this a couple of trucks and a van
had evidently been placed and allowed to run down to the culvert, where,
the bridge being gone, they plunged into the gap. Think of the glorious
smash! The trucks must have got up considerable speed. And picture the
crowd waiting expectantly for the final catastrophe. I must say that I
should have liked to see it.

The destructive spirit had evidently been satisfied by this gorgeous
sacrifice, for nine miles of the line and telegraph wires running
southward from Maritsani were untouched, and at Kraaipan, where we met
the repairing party from the south, the damage was nearly repaired.

On the Thursday night we marched from Kraaipan to a point four miles
north of Maribogo station, and during the march we heard a whistle in
the far distance. A message was sent to the advance guard, and the train
was "held up" while we gleaned some news from the officer in charge. To
us who had been living in the wild for more than a month the great hot,
hissing, bubbling engine was a strange sight, and we stood gazing at it
open-mouthed like yokels, and stretching out our hands towards its warm
body. When we had learned the news it moved off into the darkness with a
shriek, and we resumed our march with a strange sense of cold and
silence. Early next morning (June 1st) the column marched into Maribogo,
where it was to receive ten days' provisions and a complete supply of
remounts--new wings for the flying column. Hunter and the components of
his force were to rendezvous at Lichtenburg on June 7th.

Setting out from Maribogo on Sunday morning, June 3rd, we entered the
Transvaal at about midday, and reached Geysdorp in the afternoon. Hart's
brigade had left Maribogo a few hours before us, and we passed ahead of
it a