railway
line, in order to meet General Philip Botha in the country to the
south-east of Heilbron, and also, if possible, General Hattingh, who was
in command of the Harrismith and Vrede burghers.

We succeeded in crossing the railway between Roodewal and Serfontein
siding, but not without fighting. Before we came to the railway line the
English opened a cross fire on us from the north-east, from the
direction of Roodewal; and almost directly afterwards another party
fired on us from the south. We succeeded, however, in getting through
with the waggons which Commandant Van Aard had with him, but we lost one
man killed, and three wounded.

On the following day I gave Commandant Van Aard the order to go to his
district (Midden Valsch River) in order to give his burghers an
opportunity of getting their clothes washed, and of obtaining fresh
horses, if any were to be had. For although the enemy already had begun
to burn down our houses, and to carry away our horses, things had not as
yet reached such a pitch that the columns spared nothing that came in
their way.

Commandant Van Aard started off on his errand, but alas! a few days
afterwards I heard that he--one of the most popular of all our
officers--had been killed in a fight near his own farm between Kroonstad
and Lindley. He was buried there, where he had fallen, on his own land.

And now began the great work which I had proposed to accomplish.

I gave instructions to Vice-Commander-in-Chief Piet Fourie to take under
his charge the districts of Bloemfontein, Bethulie, Smithfield,
Rouxville, and Wepener, and to permit the burghers there, who had
remained behind, to join us again. He was not, however, to compel
anybody to do so, because I was of opinion that a coerced burgher would
be of no real value to us, and would besides be untrustworthy. The
following officers were to serve under Fourie: Andrias, Van Tonder and
Kritzinger. The last-named had been appointed in the place of
Commandant Olivier, who had been taken prisoner at Winburg.[70]

I had appointed Judge Hertzog as a second Vice-Commander-in-Chief, to
carry out the same work in the districts of Fauresmith, Philippolis and
Jacobsdal. He had under him Commandant Hendrik Pretorius (of Jacobsdal)
and Commandant Visser. The latter was the man who, when the burghers
from Fauresmith, even before the taking of Bloemfontein, had remained
behind, broke through with seventy or eighty troops. He had always
behaved fa