st
opportunity. I felt sure, however, that my commandos would be allowed
no rest by the enemy as long as the President and I were with them.
Accordingly I planned that as soon as we got to the north of Winburg he
and I should absent ourselves from the commandos for some time, while I
proceeded to arrange certain matters (to be set down in a later chapter)
by which I hoped to effectually "settle"[77] the English.

On our arrival at a certain farm to the south of Senekal we discovered
that General Knox was once more at our heels. We had several small
engagements with him, in one of which a son of Commandant Truter, of
Harrismith, was killed.

On the afternoon of Christmas Day, 1900, we left the farm, and rode on
to the Tafelkop, nine miles to the west of Senekal.

[Footnote 76: He was subsequently appointed Vice-Commander-in-Chief in
Cape Colony.]

[Footnote 77: In the original a Kaffir word is used here. The literal
meaning of the phrase is "to throw the knuckle bones"--the Kaffir
equivalent for dice.]

CHAPTER XXIV

Wherein Something is Found About War against Women

It was decided here, on the 26th December, to divide the large
commando into two. The one part was to be under the command
of Assistant-Chief-Commander P.H. Botha, and the other
Assistant-Chief-Commander Pete Fourie.

I entrusted to President Steyn a bodyguard under Commander Davel, who
went with the Government in the direction of Reitz.

As regards myself, I went to Assistant-Chief-Commander C.C. Froneman,
who was with the Heilbron Commander, L. Steenekamp, in the neighbourhood
of Heilbron. It was my intention to take with me from there a strong
escort, and to dig up the ammunition at Roodewal taken on the 7th of
June, as both our Mauser and our Lee-Metford ammunition were nearly
exhausted, although we still had a fairly large supply of Martini-Henry
Giddy cartridges.

I then started from Tafelkop, on the 27th of December, and arrived two
days later at General Froneman's commando, close to Heilbron. I had to
wait there till the evening of the 31st December, until the necessary
carriages and oxen had been got together for carrying the ammunition
with us. Carriages were now no longer to be got easily, because the
British had not only taken them away from the farms, but had also burnt
many of them. Where formerly in each farm there were at least one
carriage and a team of oxen, and in some two, three or even more, there
were now frequent