the arrival of this
force, I sent men out to visit the farms of those burghers who had gone
home after the fall of Bloemfontein, with orders to bring them back to
the front.

By the evening of the 1st of April I had all the men of the district
together; but it was then too late to make a start.

At ten o'clock the following morning the English left Dewetsdorp, and
marched towards Reddersburg. Directly I received news of this, I sent
word to the Generals, that they must hasten to Reddersburg; while I,
with the men who had rejoined, made my way to the north, so as to take
up a position on the enemy's flank. I had with me one hundred and ten
men in all. Many of them were without rifles, having given up their arms
at Bloemfontein. Others were provided with serviceable _achterlaaiers_,
but had little or no ammunition, because they had already fired off
their cartridges in mere wantonness in the belief that they might have
to give up their rifles any day. My handful of burghers were thus as
good as unarmed.

During our march I kept the English continually under surveillance. They
were unable to advance very rapidly, as the bulk of their force was made
up of infantry. But they were too far ahead for the commandos whom I had
sent in pursuit to be able to get at them; and for me, with the handful
of almost unarmed burghers which I commanded, to have attempted an
attack would have been worse than folly.

On the evening of the 2nd of April, the English encamped on the hill to
the west of a farm called Oollogspoort; whilst we off-saddled to the
north of them, on Mr. Van der Walt's farm. The enemy, however, was not
aware of the position of our laager.

The following morning, at four o'clock, I sent a third report to the
commandos. They had been some way on the road to Dewetsdorp, and thus,
far out of the course to Reddersburg, when my second report reached
them; and now my despatch rider met only Generals Froneman and De
Villiers with seven hundred men and three guns, and was too late to
prevent General Wessels from going on to Dewetsdorp.

Shortly after sunrise General Froneman received my report. He had been
riding all night through without stopping, and many of his horses were
already tired out. But as my order was that the Generals were to leave
behind those who were unable to proceed, and to hasten on at once
without so much as off-saddling, he did not wait to be told twice, but
pushing forward with all speed, arrived on