d then retire, leaving many
comrades behind.

On our side only two burghers were killed, while 22 were wounded. The
exact loss of the enemy was difficult to estimate. It must, however,
have amounted to some hundreds.

Again night spread a dark veil over one of the most bloody dramas of
this war. After the cessation of hostilities, I called my officers
together and considered our position. We had not lost an inch of
ground that day, while the enemy had gained nothing. On the contrary,
they had suffered a serious repulse at our hands. But our ammunition
was getting scarce, our waggons, with provisions, were 18 miles away.
All we had in our positions was mealies and raw meat, and the burghers
had no chance of cooking them. We therefore decided, as we had no
particular interest in keeping these positions, to fall back that
night on Poortjesnek, which was a "half-way house" between the place
we were leaving and our carts, from which we should be able to draw
our provisions and reserve ammunition.

We therefore allowed General Paget to occupy these positions without
more ado.

I have tried to describe this battle as minutely as possible in order
to show that incompetence of generals was not always on our side only.

I have seen from the report of the British Commander-in-Chief,
published in the newspapers, that this battle had been a most
successful and brilliant victory, gained by General Paget. People will
say, perhaps, that it was silly on my part to evacuate the positions,
and that I should have gone on defending them the next day. Well, in
the old days this would have been done by European generals, but no
doubt they were fighting under different circumstances. They were not
faced by a force ten times their own strength; not restricted to a
limited quantity of ammunition; nor were they in want of proper food
or reinforcements. The nearest Boer commando was at Warmbad, about 60
miles distant. Besides, there was no necessity, either for military
or strategical reasons, for us to cling to these positions. It had
already become our policy to fight whenever we could, and to retire
when we could not hold on any longer. The Government had decided that
the War should be continued and it was the duty of every general to
manoeuvre so as to prolong it. We had no reserve troops, so my motto
was: "Kill as many of the enemy as you possibly can, but see you do
not expose your own men, for we cannot spare a single one."

On the