arriage which had been used by some of its members, beautifully
decorated, with every possible comfort and luxury, one compartment
being filled with bottles of champagne and valuable wines. My
officers, who were no saints, saw that our men were well provided for
out of these. The remainder of the good things was shifted on to a
siding, where about twenty engines were kept. By great good luck the
Government commissariat stock, consisting of some thousands of sheep,
and even some horses, had also been left behind. But we were not
cheered.

Among the many questions asked regarding this sad state of affairs was
one put by an old burger:

"Dat is nou die plan, want zooals zaken hier lyk, dan heeft die boel
in wanhoop gevlug." ("Is that the plan, then? For from what I can see
of it, they have all fled in despair.")

I answered, "Perhaps they were frightened away, Oom."

"Ja," he said, "but look, General, it seems to me as if our members of
the Government do not intend to continue the war. You can see this by
the way they have now left everything behind for the second time."

"No, old Oom," I replied, "we should not take any notice of this. Our
people are wrestling among the waves of a stormy ocean; the gale is
strong, and the little boat seems upon the point of capsizing, but, it
has not gone down as yet. Now and then the boat is dashed against the
rocks and the splinters fly, but the faithful sailors never lose
heart. If they were to do that the dinghy would soon go under, and the
crew would disappear for ever. It would be the last page of their
history, and their children would be strangers in their own country.
You understand, Oom?"

"Yes, General, but I shall not forget to settle up, for I myself and
others with me have had enough of this, and the War has opened our
eyes."

"All right, old man." I rejoined, "nobody can prevent you
surrendering, but I have now plenty of work to do; so get along."

[Illustration: My Talk with Erasmus (Non-Combatant).]

Burghers of different commandos who had strayed--some on
purpose--passed us here in groups of two or ten or more. Some of them
were going to their own districts, right through the English lines,
others were looking for their cattle, which they had allowed to stray
in order to evade the enemy. I could only tell them that the veldt
between Nelspruit and Barberton up to Avoca, was, so far as I had been
able to discover, full of cattle and waggons belonging to farmers