another shell dropped in our midst.  I say in our midst, for we were riding in close formation when these horrible projectiles were hurled upon us.  As our horses were very tired and the veldt soaked through and through by the heavy rains, we could not scatter, nor ride fast, as we usually do when exposed to cannon fire in the open veldt.  Thus slowly we rode on under this cannonade.  And how wonderful none were injured!  The hand of the invisible omnipresent God must have shielded us.  At last we were out of the cannon’s reach.  Meanwhile the line had been repaired, the armoured trains moved freely up and down.  Fourie, five other officers, and about a hundred burghers were now cut off from the commando.  The burghers found their way back to the Free State; the officers followed us up, but, alas! met us only when we were on the point of recrossing the Orange River.

“In what a sorry plight we now were!  Some of our ablest officers severed from us at a time when they were most needed.  Their absence caused the greatest confusion, for now there were numbers of men without any officers.  Besides, it was then impossible to carry out the idea of splitting up the commando without officers.  Hence we were to be driven along by the overwhelming numbers at our rear.  How many there were is hard to tell, but we caught up some of their despatches, from which we learnt that there were no fewer than fourteen columns in pursuit of us.

“Gradually we drifted into the most deplorable and wretched conditions.  Our animals, owing to lack of fodder, began to give in.  Scores of these we had to leave behind, some of them in excellent condition, but so starved that they could proceed no farther.  The result was that hundreds of burghers had to walk, and they suffered most.  How I felt for these unfortunates!  They walked and walked until, exhausted and footsore, many a one dropped down along the road-side.  There were those whose clothes were torn to fragments by the brambles through which they forced their way.  They presented an appearance which evoked one’s compassion.

“These men had to confront another enemy—­hunger.  They scarcely found time to prepare a meal, for when they arrived at the halting-place the first word they heard was, as a rule, “opzaal!” Thus footsore, battered, and with empty stomachs, these fellows had to march for miles and miles to escape the enemy’s grip.

“I admired their power of endurance, patience, and determination.  But admiration was not enough.  I parted with all my horses, giving them to men who could walk no longer, and so walked on myself, until, footsore and exhausted, I too could go no farther.  It was a pleasure to minister in this way to men who loved their country.

“If it were not for this determination on the part of De Wet’s forces to keep out of the hands of the enemy, hundreds would have been captured, yet I believe not more than 250