and I believe our poor animals were no less thankful for
a rest.

We had not slept for three consecutive nights, and soon the whole
commando, with the exception of the sentries, were fast asleep. Few of
us thought of food, for our fatigue and drowsiness were greater than
our hunger. But we could only sleep for two hours, for we were much
too close to the enemy, and we wished to make them lose scent of us
entirely.

The burghers grumbled a good deal at being awakened and ordered to
saddle up, but we moved on nevertheless. I sent some men to enquire at
a kaffir kraal for the way to Pietersburg, and although I had no
intention of going in that direction, I knew that the kaffirs, so soon
as we had gone, would report to the nearest British camp that they had
met a commando of Boers going there. Kaffirs would do this with the
hope of reward, which they often received in the shape of spirituous
liquor. We proceeded all that day in the direction of Pietersburg
until just before sunset we came to a small stream. Here we stopped
for an hour and then went on again, this time, however, to the left
in a southerly direction through the bush to Poortjesnek near
Rhenosterkop, where a little time before the fight with General
Paget's force had taken place. We had to hurry through the bush, as
horse-sickness was prevalent here and we still had a long way before
us. It was midnight before we reached the foot of the Poortjesnek.

Here my officers informed me that two young burghers had become insane
through fatigue and want of sleep, and that several, while asleep in
their saddles had been pulled off their horses by low branches and
severely injured. Yet we had to get through the Nek and get to the
plateau before I could allow any rest. I went and had a look at the
demented men. They looked as if intoxicated and were very violent. All
our men and horses were utterly exhausted, but we pushed on and at
last reached the plateau, where, to everybody's great delight, we
rested for the whole day. The demented men would not sleep, but I had
luckily some opium pills with me and I gave each man one of them, so
that they got calmer, and, dropping off to sleep, afterwards
recovered.

My scouts reported next day that a strong English patrol had followed
us up, but that otherwise it was "all serene." We pushed on through
Langkloof over our old fighting ground near Rhenosterkop, then through
the Wilge River near Gousdenberg up to Blackwood Camp, a