emy
should see it. A dead silence reigned everywhere, broken only by the
mares and their foals. These beasts caused us great uneasiness, but so
did the order we received that we had to shoot sharp at the beginning
of the attack, but then slowly, until it became light, so as to save
some of our ammunition in case of need. We had to attack in the dark
then. But what if the enemy, prepared for our arrival, were to pepper at
us unexpectedly from a different direction, or to point their Maxims at
us?

The greatest mistake of all was that we took our horses right up to the
hill on the other side of which the khakies were. The horses were tired
and had ceased neighing, but we should have left them some miles behind
and walked on to make the attack as soon as it was light. An uncle of
mine told me that he saw some men on horseback riding over the bull,
whom he took to be our spies, but they were of course the enemy's guard.

When we had tethered our horses at the foot of the bult, we climbed up
slowly, but before we could fall into position the enemy opened a sharp
fire at us. We charged shouting 'Hurrah!' in wild enthusiasm, and fired
as fast as we could straight ahead. The sparks flew up some twenty paces
in front of us, and even after the fight we could not tell whether they
came from our own guns or from those of the enemy. At intervals we
heard the tick-tick-tick of a small Maxim, but owing to the dark we were
not mown down. Some of the burghers threw themselves down behind us, and
involuntarily one thought of the proverb, 'to hide in another's blood.'
Whenever the firing slackened a few of our brave men charged, shouting
out encouraging words, and again raised our enthusiasm. Both burghers on
my right and on my left were wounded. The latter had a most demoralizing
influence on the rest of the men, as he lay groaning and moaning in a
heart-rending way. He was only slightly wounded, and eventually escaped
on horseback. Our brave Commandant Botman went forward ten paces beyond
the rest in his enthusiasm, and served as a target for the enemy. He was
severely wounded, but walked back without a moan and fell down close
behind me. I did not even know that he was wounded. I turned round to
see if the burghers behind me would not take the initiative in the
inevitable flight, as I was ashamed to take it upon myself. I did not
take it at all amiss, therefore, when I saw several men looking round to
see if the way were clear, and da