immediately and
came up to me with his usual genial smile. We had often been together
for many months in the War, and the relations between us had been very
cordial. I therefore do not hesitate to call him a bosom-friend, with
due respect to his Honour as my chief.

"Hullo, old brother, how are you?" was Botha's welcome.

"Good morning, General, thank you, how are you?" I replied.

My high appreciation of, and respect for his position, made me refrain
from calling him Louis, although we did not differ much in age, and
were on intimate terms.

"I must congratulate you upon your successful attack on Helvetia. You
made a nice job of it," he said. "I hope you had a pleasant New
Year's Eve. But," he went on, "I am sorry in one way, for the enemy
will be on his guard now, and we may not succeed in the execution of
the plans we are going to discuss to-day, and which concern those very
districts."

"I am sorry, General," I replied, "but of course I know nothing of
those plans."

"Well," rejoined the Commandant-General, "we will try anyhow, and hope
for the best."

An hour later we met in council. Louis Botha briefly explained how he
had gone with General Christian Botha and Tobias Smuts, with 1,200
men, to Komatiboven, between Carolina and Belfast, where they had left
the commandos to cross the line in order to meet the officers who were
to the north of it with the object of going into the details of a
combined attack on the enemy's camps.

All were agreed and so it was decided that the attack would be made
during the night of the 7th of January, at midnight, the enemy's
positions being stormed simultaneously.

The attack was to be made in the following way: The Commandant-General
and General C. Botha along with F. Smuts, would attack on the southern
side of the garrisons, in the following places: Pan Station,
Wonderfontein Station, Belfast Camp and Station, Dalmanutha and
Machadodorp, while I was to attack these places from the north. The
commandos would be divided so as to have a field-cornet's force charge
at each place.

I must say that I had considerable difficulty in trying to make a
little go a long way in dividing my small force along such a long line
of camps, but the majority were in favour of this "frittering-away"
policy, and so it had to be done.

The enemy's strength in different places was not easy to ascertain. I
knew the strongest garrison at Belfast numbered over 2,500 men, and
this place was t