uttered his wish to ‘halt,’ we turned upon him angrily and called him ‘traitor.’  We did not then know that we were far beyond earshot of the enemy.  It stopped raining, and towards morning we reached the mountains; and after we had with great difficulty got our horses on to the mountains, we had to await the dawn in the cold, drenched to the skin.  A mackintosh is of small service in such a rain.  When the day dawned we led our horses higher up.  A thick fog had come on.  General Lucas Meyer was to begin the attack on the west, and we were to surprise the enemy from the heights.

When the roar of cannon announced the battle, we were full of enthusiasm, but General Erasmus forbade anyone to move on before the fog lifted.  It was quite possible that the fog might be only on the mountain-tops, because of their great height, and that we would have clear weather as soon as we began to descend, therefore several of our men begged General Erasmus to be allowed to go on ahead as scouts.  But he was very much against it, and said that the enemy might cut off our retreat, and ‘if the enemy surround us it is all up with us,’ said he.  As soon as the roar of the cannon ceased, we withdrew some distance into the mountains to let our horses graze.  But we had only just off-saddled, when from all sides came the cry of ‘Saddle! saddle!’ and from our left, in the valley, came the sound of firing.  A detachment of 250 khakies, probably knowing nothing of our whereabouts, and intending to pass round the mountains and attack Lucas Meyer in the rear, was compelled to surrender in a few moments, after first having sought cover in a kraal near a house.

We remained three days on the Dundee mountains, and during all that time there was a steady drizzle, with intervals of hail and wind.  Once when it cleared up for a few hours we got the order to attack the town, but it began to rain again, and that night we had to keep our positions in the intense cold, without any covering.  Fortunately, the enemy abandoned their camp that night, and when we looked down upon the town next morning the khakies had vanished.  We had only the preceding day placed our cannon in a position to command the camp.

When we returned to our saddles, the horses had strayed so far that it took us almost all day to get them back.  My uncle, Paul Mare, formerly Volksraad member for Zoutpansberg, treated us to kaboe-mealies (roasted maize), the first we had on commando, and we ate with great relish.

Meanwhile the commando had left.  We followed, and entered Dundee, where we helped ourselves hungrily to the good things from the shops placed at the disposal of the commandos.