dynamite, I left Potchefstroom and
returned to my commando, then quietly withdrew in the night to
Rhenosterkop. From there I sent Veldtcornet Nicolaas Serfontein, of the
Bethlehem commando, in the direction of Reitz and Lindley, to bring the
Kaffirs there to a sense of their duty, for I had heard that they were
behaving very brutally to our women. The remainder of the Bethlehem
burghers under Commandant Prinsloo and Veldtcornet Du Preez, remained
with me to assist me in getting under my supervision the commandos which
had escaped from behind the Roodebergen. These were under the command of
General Fourie, and some were in the south of the State. I left Captain
Scheepers behind me with orders to wreck the line every night.

That evening I went to Mr. Welman's farm, which was to the south-west of
Kroonstad.

There I received a report that the commandos under General Fourie were
in the neighbourhood of Ladybrand. I sent a despatch to him and Judge
Hertzog asking them to come and see me, with a view to bringing the
burghers under arms again, in the southern and south-western districts
of the State.

This letter was taken by Commandant Michal Prinsloo and some despatch
riders to General Fourie. The night that he crossed the line a train was
passing, and he wrecked the railway both in front of it and behind it.
The train could thus neither advance nor retreat, and it fell into the
hands of Commandant Prinsloo, who, after having taken what he wanted,
burnt it.

With regard to myself, I remained in the neighbourhood of Commandant
Nel's farm.

Here I had the most wonderful of all the escapes that God allowed me in
the whole course of the war.

On the third evening at sunset, a Hottentot came to me. He said that his
"baas," whose family lived about twelve miles from the farm of
Commandant Nel, had laid down their arms, and that he could not remain
in the service of the wife of such a bad "baas." He asked me if he could
not become one of my "achterrijders."

As he was still speaking to me, Landdrost Bosman from Bothaville, came
to pay me a visit.

"Good," I said to the Hottentot, "I shall see you about this again." For
I wished to cross-question him. I then went into the house with the
Landdrost, and spent a good deal of time in writing with him. Late in
the evening he went back to Bothaville and I to bed exactly at eleven
o'clock.

I had scarcely laid down when the Hottentot came back to my thoughts,
and I began to g