ant Dease, and they were my prisoners-of-war for four months,
during which time I found Captain Milner one of the most worthy
British officers whom it had been my privilege to meet in this War.
Not only in his manly appearance, but especially by his noble
character he stood head and shoulders above his fellow-officers.

Lieutenant Dease bore a very good character but was young and
inexperienced. For several reasons I am pleased to be able to make
publicly these statements.

The soldiers we had made prisoners during this fight, as well as those
we took at Helvetia, were given up to the British officers a few days
afterwards, as we were not in a position to feed them properly, and it
would not be humane or fair to keep the soldiers who had the
misfortune of falling into our hands without proper food. This, of
course, was a very unsatisfactory state of affairs, for we had to
fight fiercely, valuable lives had to be sacrificed, every nerve had
to be strained to force the enemy to surrender, and to take his
positions; and then, when we had captured them, the soldiers were
merely disarmed and sent back to the English lines after a little
while, only to find them fighting against us once more in a few days.

The Boers asked, "Why are not these "Tommies" required to take the
oath before being liberated not to fight against us again?" I believe
this would have been against the rules of civilised warfare, and we
did not think it chivalrous to ask a man who was a prisoner to take an
oath in return for his release.

A prisoner-of-war has no freedom of action, and might have promised
under the circumstances what he would not have done if he had been a
free man.

CHAPTER XXXI.

A "BLUFF" AND A BATTLE.

The last days of February, 1901, were very trying for our commandos on
the "Hoogeveld," south of the railway. General French, assisted by
half a dozen other generals, with a force of 60,000 men, crossed the
"Hoogeveld," between the Natal border and the Delagoa Railway, driving
all the burghers and cattle before him, continually closer to the
Swazi frontier, in order to strike a "final blow" there.

These operations the English called "The Great Sweep of February,
1901."

Commandant-General Botha sent word that he was in a bad plight on the
"Hoogeveld," the enemy having concentrated all his available troops
upon him. I was asked to divert their attention as much as possible by
repeated attacks on the railway line, an