en we could move on. But the
Commandant always answered that he could not tell. And the more sensible
of us thought, 'It depends on khaki.' This was really the case now. On
the evening of January 28 we got the order to be in readiness. While
General Beyers, with 400 or 500 men, passed to the rear of the enemy to
destroy the Boksburg mines, our commando of horsemen moved rapidly in
the direction of Boesmanskop in the Heidelberg district, to cut off the
enemy who were pushing on to our part of the Hoogeveld. We arrived at
Boesmanskop the following morning.

The parts of the country that we now passed through had not yet been
destroyed by the enemy, but everywhere else the houses and farms were
burnt and ruined in the most barbarous way. We were very anxious,
therefore, to cut off the enemy's advance. They were camped to the
north-west of Boesmanskop. A strong Boer guard occupied this kopje--the,
only one in the neighbourhood; for the rest, the surroundings were the
ordinary Hoogeveld with its mounds. We pushed up in a long line over a
'bult' that ran north-west of Boesmanskop. Our guns--only a few, as most
had been sent away to be repaired--stood on top of this mound without
any cover. Lieutenant Odendaal, a very brave gunner, did not like
kopjes, but always placed his cannon on a mound, as the enemy's guns
always fired too short or too long on account of the misleading
distances. They did so in this instance, and the bombs flew far beyond
us. Corporal Botman ordered me to stay with the horses at the foot of
the 'bult,' while the burghers crept on to the top a few hundred paces
further, expecting eventually to charge the enemy. Suddenly I heard,
twice over, a noise like that of a train in the distance. My brother
told me afterwards how he had seen a detachment of the enemy storming
Boesmanskop, and how the burghers waited until they were close by, and
then beat them back completely with a twice-repeated salvo.

For some time the guns of the enemy ceased firing, because, as I heard
later on, Lieutenant Odendaal had shot down the gunners. When they made
themselves heard again, they were more accurate in their aim; I most
narrowly escaped the bombs. Four or five thundered around me in quick
succession, as I fell and stooped and grasped the bridles of the rearing
horses. Some of the horses pulled the bridles out of my hands and raced
down the valley.

But the left wing of the enemy was surrounding us, and, like a swarm of