ing.

My orders were duly carried out.

Commandant De Vos crept stealthily up to the fort, and was not observed
by the enemy until he was close to them. They then fired fiercely on
him, killing two of his burghers, but our men would not be denied; they
leapt over the _schanze_ and compelled the enemy to surrender. The
English losses on this occasion were six killed, a few wounded, and
about thirty taken prisoner.

While this was going on, Veldtcornet Wessels, in accordance with orders
which I had given him the previous evening, had taken possession of the
river bank exactly opposite to the town, which he was now preparing to
storm.

The English had only a few _schanzes_ to the west of him, and these were
not more than two hundred paces off.

I had been to the laager at "Prospect" the night before, with the
intention of returning so as to be in time for the storming of the town.
I had arranged to go there very early in the morning, because my journey
could be accomplished with much less risk if carried out in the dark.
Unfortunately, however, daylight overtook me when I had got no further
than the Kaffir location, and I had to race from there, over country
where I had no sort of cover, to the ravine near the town. From this
ravine to where Veldtcornet Wessels was waiting for me on the river
bank, I rode in comparative safety.

The reader can easily imagine how delighted I was to meet again the
Dewetsdorp folk, to whom I was so well known. But I could not show
myself too much. That would not have been safe. After I had visited
three houses--those of the Schoolmaster, Mr. Otto, of Mr. Jacobus Roos,
and of old Mr. H. Van der Schijf--and had partaken in each of a cup of
coffee, I hurried off to my burghers.

The remaining English _schanzes_ had been so well constructed that their
occupants could still offer a very stubborn resistance, and they did so.
It was not until about three o'clock on the afternoon of the 23rd of
November that we saw the white flag go up, and knew that the victory was
ours.

We took four hundred and eight prisoners, amongst whom were Major Massey
and seven other officers. We also took fifty Kaffirs. Two Armstrong guns
with more than three hundred rounds of ammunition, some waggons, horses
and mules, and a great quantity of Lee-Metford cartridges also fell into
our hands.

We never knew the exact numbers of the English dead and wounded, but
they must have lost something between seventy and o