r later the bird had flown. We
were careful to avoid a repetition of Cronje's experience.

The burghers were very anxious about our lager. We had left it on
Brown's farm on the Wilgeriver, when our commando advanced towards
Boesmanskop. How the lager escaped I do not know, for we heard that the
enemy were advancing from all sides--Standerton, Middelburg, etc. But we
reached it in safety the very night that we slipped through the enemy's
cordon.

We were now safely on our way back to Rustenburg, and had to leave
General French with his 30,000 or 40,000 men to drive along helpless
women and children, and all the cattle he could lay hands on.
Commandant-General Louis Botha had strictly forbidden the women to leave
their farms after the Battle of Boesmanskop, so that the enormous woman
lager received no new additions.

Many of the farms were burned down, but some families had been left
unmolested, because they said the enemy were ill at ease, owing to a
rumour that General Beyers was going to attack them in the rear. The
partly-burned granaries bore evidence to the great hurry the enemy were
in. On some farms the very rooms that contained grain were set on fire.

Our constant retreat had a most demoralizing influence. This was felt
even in our conversation and our expressions. We called this retreating
'kamping,'[A] and it became one of our most common expressions in our
daily life. For 'Let us go!' we said 'Let us kamp!' or for 'This evening
we start!' we said 'This evening we go on the kamp!' A typical
expression was 'kamping' for our independence, when we could no longer
withstand the enemy. If anyone boasted of his loyalty to his country and
people, he merely said that he had 'kamped' along with the burghers
wherever they had 'kamped.' We used in our conversation many military
terms; for instance, 'to change one's position' was 'to go and lie with
your saddle on another place.' 'I shall mauser you' meant 'I shall
strike you.'

At Grootpan General Beyers again joined us, after having done the enemy
some harm at Boksburg. He addressed us and explained his reason for
countermanding the attack on Krugersdorp. He had told the secret to a
few of his officers, who made it public property, so that the enemy had
heard of it and were prepared for the attack.

Moreover, a great fault of the burghers had come to light at
Nooitgedacht--namely, that they shirked their duty in their eagerness
for plunder. He was afraid that if