y men had only been able to think for themselves, they would have
thrown the rifles on the bank as they came into their hands, and so
would have disarmed far more of the English than they succeeded in
doing. But, as it was, the burghers kept on asking:

"Where shall I put this rifle, General? What have I to do with this
horse?"

That the work should be delayed by this sort of thing sorely tried my
hasty temper.

Very soon the enemy in the rear discovered that there was something
wrong in the drift, for one of their officers suddenly gave orders that
the troops should fall back. But in the meantime, as I have already
stated, we had disarmed two hundred men; while, about a hundred paces
from us on the banks of the spruit stood five of their guns, and more
than a hundred of their waggons, in one confused mass. A little further
off--two or three hundred paces, perhaps--two more of the enemy's guns
had halted.

The English fell back some thirteen hundred yards, to the station on the
Dewetsdorp-Bloemfontein railway. I need scarcely say that we opened a
terrific fire on them as they retreated. When they reached the station,
however, the buildings there gave them considerable protection. I little
knew when I voted in the Volksraad for the construction of this line,
that I was voting for the building of a station which our enemies would
one day use against us.

An attempt was made by the English to save the five guns, but it was far
beyond their powers to do so. They did succeed, however, in getting the
other two guns away, and in placing them behind the station buildings.
From there they severely bombarded us with shrapnel shell.

While the English troops were running to find cover in the buildings,
they suffered very heavily from our fire, and the ground between the
station and the spruit was soon strewn with their dead and wounded,
lying in heaps. But having arrived at the railway they rallied, and
posting themselves to the right and left of the station, they fired
sharply on us.

The eleven hundred and fifty burghers who were to the east of the Modder
River now hurried up to my assistance. But unfortunately, when they
attempted to cross the river, they found that the Water-Works dam had
made it too deep to ford. So they proceeded up stream over some very
rough ground, being much inconvenienced by the dongas which they had to
cross. When they had covered three miles of this they were again
stopped, for an impassable