When our cannon at last, towards evening, condescended to bombard the enemy, the firing almost wholly ceased, and we made use of that favourable opportunity to get back to the donga.  We had lain nine hours behind those ant-hills, and, strange to say, there were only two wounded on our side.  We decided not to run the same risk again.  In this way we lost our confidence in men like the brothers Erasmus, General and Commandant, who, in the first place, were incapable of organizing a good plan of attack, and, secondly, never took part in a battle.

The months spent near Ladysmith were to most of us the most tedious of the whole war.  We had so little to do, and the heat between the glowing rocks of the kopjes was awful.  The little work we had was anything but pleasant; it consisted chiefly in keeping guard either by day or by night.  In the beginning a very bad watch was kept.  Later on we had to climb the kopje at least every alternate evening to pass the long nights in our positions, while not far behind us stood our empty tents.

When we got back in the morning with our bundles on our backs, dead tired, we simply ‘flopped’ on to a stone, and sat waiting for our cup of coffee, either gazing at the lovely landscape or at the dirty camp, according to the mood we were in, or exchanging loud jokes with our neighbours.  Constantly being on guard and constantly being in danger wears one out.  We much prefer active service on patrol or in a skirmish to lying in our positions.  It is not in the nature of the Boer to lie inactive far from his home.  He soon wants to go ‘huis-toe’ (home), and very soon the ‘leave-plague’ broke out in our camp.  That plague was one of the causes why the enemy succeeded in breaking through our lines.

Through unfairness on the part of the officers, some burghers often got leave, others never, and the consequence, of course, was a constant quarrelling.  Many burghers got leave and never returned—­either with or without the knowledge of the officers.  No wonder we never had a proper fighting force in the field.

The difficulties we had to contend with through want of organization prevented the Generals from putting their plans into execution.

Fortunately, many burghers were very willing, and if there was to be a fight they always went voluntarily.  It was noticeable that those under a capable General fought well, while those under a bad or incapable General were very weak indeed.  Sometimes wonders were done at the initiative of some of the burghers.  We had a few games in the camp to pass the time, but we were kept busy in a different way also.  Sometimes, when we were all just comfortably lazy, the order would be given to ‘mount.’  That meant a hurried search for our horses and snatching up our guns and bandoliers.  But after a while we had had enough of those false alarms, and they failed to make any impression on us.  The call of ’The English are coming! saddle, saddle!’ became proverbial.