blessing to the burgher army. The grey-haired old man was
conspicuous in a small circle which was formed by the burghers withdrawing
several paces when he began the prayer. On all sides there spread out a
mass of black-garbed, battle-begrimed Boers with eyes turned to the
ground. Here and there a white tent raised its head above the assemblage;
at other points men stood on waggons and cannon. Farther on, burghers
dismounted from their horses and joined the crowd. In the distance were
Talana Hill, where the first battle of the campaign was fought; the lofty
Drakensberg where more than fifty years before the early Boer Voortrekkers
had their first glimpses of fair Natal, while to the south were the hills
of Ladysmith of sombre history. There in the midst of bloody battlefields,
and among several thousand men who sought the blood of the enemy, Kruger,
the man of peace, implored Almighty God to give strength to his
burghers. It was a magnificent spectacle.

He had been at Glencoe only a short time when the news reached him that
the burghers in the Free State had lost their courage, and were retreating
rapidly towards Bloemfontein. He abbreviated his visit, hastened to the
Free State, and met the fleeing Boers at Poplar Grove. He exhorted them to
make a stand against the enemy, and, by his magnetic power over them,
succeeded in inducing the majority to remain and oppose the British
advance. His own fearlessness encouraged them, and when they saw their old
leader standing in the midst of shell fire as immobile as if he were
watching a holiday parade, they had not the heart to run. While he was
watching the battle a shell fell within a short distance of where he
stood, and all his companions fled from the spot. He walked slowly away,
and when the men returned to him he chided them, and made a witty remark
concerning the shell, naming it one of "the Queen's pills." While the
battle continued, Kruger followed one of the commandos and urged the men
to fight. At one stage of the battle the commando which he was following
was in imminent danger of being cut off and captured by the British
forces, but the burghers fought valiantly before their President, and
finally conveyed him to a place of safety, although the path was shell and
bullet swept.

He returned to Bloemfontein, and in conjunction with President Steyn,
addressed an appeal to Lord Salisbury to end the war. They asked that the
republics should be allowed to retain their