many perils from shunting engines, trains
undecided whether to go on or to go back, and general confusion. It
certainly did not look as if our train could be extricated for hours,
but it proved there was method in this apparent muddle, and we suffered
no delay worth speaking of. The station was densely packed with Staff
officers and soldiers. Presently someone elbowed a way through the crowd
to make way for the General, just arrived from Bloemfontein. A momentary
interest was roused as an elderly, soldierly gentleman, with white hair
and a slight figure, passed out of sight into one of the officials'
rooms, and then we joined the throng trying to get food in the overtaxed
refreshment-room. We had some interesting conversation with the officer
in command of the station, and learnt how the Kroonstadt garrison were
even then living in the midst of daily alarms from De Wet or his
followers; added to these excitements, there was a colossal amount of
work to be got through in the way of supplying Pretoria with food, by a
line liable to be interrupted, and in coping with the task of receiving
and unloading remounts, which were arriving from the South in large
numbers. I saw some of these poor animals packed nine in a truck,
marvellously quiet, and unmindful of strange sights and sounds, and of
being hurled against each other when the locomotive jerked on or came to
a stop. They were in good condition, but their eyes were sad and their
tails were woefully rubbed. After seeing Kroonstadt Railway-station, I
realized that the work of a Staff officer on the lines of communication
was no sinecure.

Marvellous to relate, in the early afternoon we found our train in the
station, and, climbing into our carriage once more, we proceeded on our
road without delay, congratulating ourselves on our good fortune in not
being held up at Kroonstadt, as had been the fate of many travellers
going south. Immediately south of Kroonstadt we crossed the Vaal River,
with its fine high-level bridge reduced to atoms by dynamite. This had
given the engineers another opportunity to display their skill by a
clever deviation of a couple of miles in length, winding down almost to
the water-level, and then serenely effecting the crossing by a little
wooden bridge, from which its ruined predecessor was visible about a
quarter of a mile up the stream. Darkness and approaching night then hid
the landscape. That evening we were told we need have no fears, for we