utious than Pharaoh.

We now reached the top of the mountain--entirely exhausted. I have
ascended many a mountain--the rough cliffs of Majuba, the steep sides of
Nicholson's Nek--but never before had I been so tired as I was now; yet
in the depths of my heart I was satisfied. All our toil was repaid by
the glorious panorama that now stretched out before us to the south. We
saw the undulating veldt between the Magaliesbergen where we stood, and
the Witwatersrand. Through a ravine we had a view extending for many
miles, but wherever we cast our eyes there was no sign of anything that
resembled the enemy.

As it was now too late to off-saddle, we began, after having taken a
little rest, to descend the mountain on the other side, my object being
to reach a farm where I hoped to get some sheep or oxen for my men, who
not only were tired out, but nearly famished.

We went down the mountain--well, somewhat quicker than we had climbed
it; however, we could not go very fast, as the incline was steep. In an
hour and a half we reached a Boer farm.

One can imagine how the burghers recovered their spirits as they ate
their supper, and what it meant for them to give their tired limbs a
rest.

The following morning we found good horse-provender, and plenty of it.
It was not as yet the habit of the English to burn everything they came
across--they had not yet begun to carry out that policy of destruction.

I now felt quite easy about the safety of our camp. The attention of
the English would be turned in quite another direction.

I was quite right in this view of the matter. For I heard a few days
later that the enemy had not been able to pursue the laager as their
draft-cattle and horses were so completely exhausted, that they had
fallen down dead in heaps. I heard also that they had soon been made
acquainted with the fact that I was on my way back to the Free State,
where I would soon begin again to wreck railway lines and telegraph
wires. They had also discovered that President Steyn had left the laager
and was on the road to Machadodorp.

It was on the 18th of August, 1900, that we were able to eat our crust
of bread in safety on the farm just mentioned, and to let our horses
have as much food as they wanted. It seemed that for the time being a
heavy burden had fallen from our shoulders. That afternoon we crossed
the Krokodil River, and stopped at a "winkel"[69] under the
Witwatersrand, which had been spared as yet, altho