to be off
without a moment's delay. I had not even time to send my wife and my
children into a place of safety.

Our whole stock of ammunition was on the rail at Wolvehoek. I had given
orders to Mr. Sarel Wessels, who had charge of the ammunition, to hold
himself in readiness to proceed with it by rail, through the Transvaal,
to Greylingstad as soon as he received orders to do so.

But now the ammunition could not remain there, as Sir Redvers Buller was
gaining ground day by day towards the veldt on the Natal frontier and
the ammunition would thus be in danger of being taken. Therefore there
was nothing left for me but to get it through by way of Greylingstad
Station. It had to be done, and,--I had no carriages by which I could
convey it, as I had not sufficient hands to take carriages from the
trucks.[41] There was only one way (course) open; the commandos from
Smithfield, Wepener and Bethulie still had, contrary to the Kroonstad
resolution, carriages with them at Frankfort; I hastened to that village
and sent the necessary number of these carriages under a strong escort,
to fetch the ammunition from Greylingstad.

In order to do this responsible work I required a man whom I could
trust. Captain Danie Theron was no longer with me, because he, being a
Transvaaler, had gone with General Louis Botha. But there was another:
Gideon J. Scheepers.[42] To him I entrusted the task of reconnoitring
the British, so that the carriages which were going to fetch the
ammunition could do in safety what they were required to do, and I knew
that he would do it.

[Footnote 37: This "granary" lay in the Ladybrand, Ficksburg and
Bethlehem districts, and not only supplied the Free State, but also the
greater part of the Transvaal. If the districts of Wepener, Rouxville,
Bloemfontein, and Thaba'Nchu be included, this "granary" was the source
of a very large yield of corn, and there had been an especially rich
harvest that year. As the men were away on commando, the Kaffirs reaped
the corn under the supervision of the Boer women; and where Kaffirs were
not obtainable the women did the work with their own hands, and were
assisted by their little sons and daughters. The women had provided such
a large supply, that had not the English burnt the corn by the thousand
sacks, the war could have been continued. It was hard indeed for them to
watch the soldiers flinging the corn on the ground before their horses'
hoofs. Still harder was it to see