Fortunately he heard, almost at once, one of his comrades, Van Zulch,
call out 'Oh, the white flag! Hullo, the white flag!' and he saw them
climbing down. He lay still a moment longer to convince himself of the
fact, and then calmly went to the last reef, where many khakies
surrendered--and he descended with them. Now the rest of the burghers
came running along from all directions to disarm the enemy in the
dusk--and to take what booty there was to be had. In their eagerness to
get as much booty as possible, they allowed an officer, Major Scobel,
to escape.

As I arrived rather late on the battlefield, I cannot give any account
of the order in which De la Rey placed his men, neither do I know the
number of the enemy's dead and wounded, nor how many lives our victory
cost us. I have never seen any official report concerning this battle.
Field-Cornet Van Zulch, who with Commandant Boshoff, took the officers
to Machadodorp, and who is at present a fellow-prisoner, tells me that
three officers--Colonel Roberts, Lieutenants Davis and Lyall--and 210
soldiers of the Lincolnshire Regiment were taken prisoners, and that
four companies of the Scots Greys had early that morning escaped with
two guns. Our loss, both dead and wounded, was not more than thirteen or
fourteen men. The enemy had made a stubborn resistance, judging from the
number of dead and wounded that were lying on the field. Of the seven of
us who forced the enemy to surrender by attacking them in the rear, not
one was injured, although we were the attacking party. They say that the
khaki prisoners whom we left on the reef remained there all night, and
came down the following morning with little white flags made of the
bandages that a soldier always carries with him, tied to twigs.

VI

GUERILLA LIFE ON THE MAGALIES MOUNTAINS--NARROW ESCAPE OF PRESIDENT
STEYN AND GENERAL DE WET.

Commandant Boshoff had been ordered to take the prisoners to
Machadodorp. He left my brother and me with Captain Kirsten, who had to
reconnoitre in the direction of Rustenburg along the Magalies Mountains.
We first of all passed through Commandonek, and found that deserted by
the enemy. We had no adventures on our way to Rustenburg.

The Rustenburgers, who had nearly all laid down their arms and taken the
oath of neutrality, took courage when they saw De la Rey's big commando,
and joined us one and all.

Then we recognised a great fault in the character of our people. Without