nsolation was offered and administered to him by our
pastor.

Next day, as related in the previous chapter, we were attacked by a
detachment of General Kitchener's force from Belfast. This kept me
busy all day, and I delegated two of my subaltern officers to carry
out the execution. At dusk the condemned man was blindfolded and
conducted to the side of an open grave, where twelve burghers fired a
volley, and death was instantaneous. I am told that De Kock met his
fate with considerable fortitude.

So far as I am aware, this was the first Boer "execution" in our
history. I afterwards read accounts of it in the English press, in
which it was described as murder, but I emphatically repudiate this
description of a wholly justifiable act. The crime was a serious one,
and the punishment was well deserved, and I have no doubt that the
same fate would have awaited any English soldier guilty of a similar
offence. It seems a great pity, however, that no war can take place
without these melancholy incidents.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

IN A TIGHT CORNER.

It was now March, 1901. For some time our burghers had been
complaining of inactivity, and the weary and monotonous existence was
gradually beginning to pall on them. But it became evident that April
would be an eventful month, as the enemy had determined not to suffer
our presence in these parts any longer. A huge movement, therefore,
was being set on foot to surround us and capture the whole commando
_en bloc_.

It began with a night attack on a field-cornet's force posted at
Kruger's Post, north of Lydenburg, and here the enemy succeeded in
capturing 35 men and a quantity of "impedimenta;" the field-cornet in
question, although warned in time, having taken no proper
precautions. By the middle of April the enemy's forward movement was
in full swing. General Plumer came from Pietersburg, General Walter
Kitchener from Lydenburg, and General Barber from Middelburg. They
approached us in six different directions, altogether a force of
25,000 men, and the whole under the supreme command of General Sir
Bindon Blood.

No escape was available for us through Secoekuniland on the north, as
the natives here, since the British had occupied their territory, were
avowedly hostile to us. To escape, therefore, we would have to break
through the enemy's lines and also to cross the railway, which was
closely guarded.

The enemy were advancing slowly from various directions. All our roa