eported excitedly. All eyes were turned in the
direction indicated. Some estimated the intervening distance at a mile,
others were positive it was not more than a thousand yards--it was not
light enough to distinguish accurately. "Tell the burghers that I will
fire the first shot," said General De Wet to one of his staff. Immediately
the order was spread to the men in the spruit. "I see men leading oxen to
the waggons; they are preparing to trek," remarked a commandant. "They are
coming down this way," announced another, slapping his thigh joyfully.

A few minutes afterwards clouds of dust arose, and at intervals the
waggons in the van could be seen coming down the slope toward the drift.
The few tents fell, and men in brown uniforms moved hither and thither
near the waterworks building. Waggon after waggon joined in the
procession; drivers were shrieking and wielding their whips over the heads
of the oxen, and farther behind were cavalrymen mounting their horses. It
was daylight then, although the sun was still below the horizon, and the
movements of the enemy could be plainly discerned. The ox-teams came
slowly down the road--there seemed to be no limit to their number--and the
generals retreated down the drift to the bottom of the spruit, so that
their presence should not be discerned by the enemy, and to await the
arrival of the waggons.

The shrieking natives drew nearer, the rumbling of the waggons became more
distinct, and soon the first vehicle descended the drift. A few burghers
were sent forward to intercept it. As soon as it reached the bottom of the
spruit the men grasped the bridles of the horses, and instantly there were
shrieks from the occupants of the vehicle. It was filled with women and
children, all pale with fright on account of the unexpected appearance of
the Boers. The passengers were quickly and gently taken from the waggon
and sent to places of safety in the spruit, while a burgher jumped into
the vehicle and drove the horses up the other drift and out upon the open
veld. The operation of substituting drivers was done so quickly and
quietly that none of those approaching the drift from the other side
noticed anything extraordinary, and proceeded into the spruit. Other
burghers stood prepared to receive them as they descended the drift with
their heavily laden ammunition and provision waggons, and there was little
trouble in seizing the British drivers and placing the whips into the
hands of Boe