the enemy was forced to surrender; and five
hundred of them were taken prisoner, among whom were Captain Wyndham
Knight and several other officers. Their casualties amounted to the
large total of one hundred and seventy killed and wounded, Colonel
Douglas being one of the killed.

Commandant Steenekamp had also met with success, for he had captured the
English camp at Vredefortweg Station, and taken thirty prisoners,
without firing a shot.

Thus we had made eight hundred of the enemy our prisoners, and destroyed
an enormous amount of their ammunition, and this with scarcely any loss
on our side. At Roodewal only two of my men had been wounded, whilst
General Froneman had lost but one killed--a burgher named Myringen--and
two slightly wounded.

It had been a wonderful day for us--a day not easily forgotten.

We were deeply thankful for our success. Our only regret was that it had
been impossible for us to keep more of the clothing and ammunition. But
although we had not been able to retain it, neither had the enemy. It
was winter, and we had managed to burn their warm clothing. The English
would certainly feel the want of it; and some time must elapse before
they could receive a fresh supply from Europe.

Undoubtedly Lord Roberts would be very angry with me; but I consoled
myself with the thought that his anger would soon blow over. I felt sure
that after calm consideration he would acknowledge that I had been
altogether within my rights, and that he had been rather unwise in
heaping together at one place so large a quantity of insufficiently
protected stores. He should have kept his supplies at Kroonstad, or,
better still, at Bloemfontein, until he had reconstructed all the
railway bridges which we had blown up on the line to Pretoria. Lord
Roberts had already begun to trust the Free-Staters too much; and he had
forgotten that, whatever else we may have been thinking about, never for
a single moment had we thought of surrendering our country.

I received a report the following day that thirty English troops had
been seen eight miles to the west of Roodewal, and moving in the
direction of Kroonstad. I despatched General Froneman with thirty of the
burghers to fetch them in.

The next day, which was the 9th of June, I went with our prisoners to
within three miles of the railway, and left them there under Veldtcornet
De Vos,[51] ordering him to conduct them the rest of the way.

It was now my duty to bring away th