o Bloemfontein as quickly as possible and
to sell it to the English. The owner of the sheep and of the cattle,
they said, was with General Broadwood, whose troops had just arrived at
Sanna's Post.

The light grew brighter, and there, three thousand paces from us, was
Broadwood's huge force.

I had only three hundred and fifty men with me; the other generals, to
the east of the Modder River, had not more than eleven hundred and fifty
between them.

The numbers against us were overwhelming, but I resolved to stand my
ground; and, fortunately, the positions which I had chosen were much to
our advantage--there would be no difficulty in concealing my burghers
and their horses.

I ordered that every one should still remain hidden, even when our party
to the east of the Modder River began to shoot, and that not a round was
to be fired until I gave the command.

General Broadwood was preparing to strike camp. It was then that I told
my men to allow the British troops to get to close quarters and
"hands-up" them, without wasting a single bullet.

Then our guns began to fire.

The result was a scene of confusion. Towards us, over the brow of the
hill, came the waggons pell-mell, with a few carts moving rapidly in
front. When the first of these reached the spruit its occupants--a man
with a woman beside him--became aware that something was wrong.

I was standing at the top of the drift with Commandants Fourie and Nel.
I immediately ordered two of my adjutants to mount the cart and to sit
at the driver's side.

The other carts came one after the other into the drift, and I ordered
them to follow close behind the first cart, at the same time warning the
occupants that if they gave any signal to the enemy, they would be shot.

The carts were filled with English from Thaba'Nchu. I was very glad that
the women and children should thus reach a place of safety, before the
fighting began.

So speedily did the carts follow each other that the English had no
suspicion of what was occurring, and very shortly the soldiers began to
pour into the drift in the greatest disorder. As soon as they reached
the stream they were met by the cry of "Hands up!"

Directly they heard the words, a forest of hands rose in the air.

More troops quickly followed, and we had disarmed two hundred of them
before they had time to know what was happening. The discipline among
the burghers was fairly satisfactory until the disarming work began. If
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