the railway
line. Only the weakest of the horses were with us, so that many of my
burghers had to go on foot.

The ninety prisoners we had taken were with me. I could not release
them, because I did not want them to tell the enemy how exhausted our
horses were. Should the English know this they would know exactly where
our weak point lay.

I pitied the poor "Tommies," but what else could I do but order them to
march with me? I treated them as well as I could, and made no difference
between them and the burghers. And after all, many of our own men had to
go on foot.

Any delay was dangerous, and so we hurried on as fast as possible. When
we reached the railway line, day had already begun to break.
Fortunately, we met with no opposition; the patrols had followed my
orders and broken the line.

When the sun rose one could see what a terrible condition the burghers
were in. On every man's face utter exhaustion could be read. But how
could it have been otherwise? The men had had fighting to do the
previous day, and had only once been able to off-saddle, and that not
long enough to cook a piece of meat. Rain had also been falling in
torrents, and most of the men were wet to the skin, for very few of them
had waterproofs. And to make matters still worse, the burghers were
covered with the mud from the swamp that still clung to them.

Twenty-four hours had passed without the men being able to lie down and
rest; and sleep, of course, had been entirely impossible.

Three miles beyond the railway line I gave orders to off-saddle,
although there was no grass for the horses. Hardly had we dismounted
when I was told that we should find grass about one hour's ride further
on. And so we mounted again, fatigued though we were, and found pasture
at last for the poor animals. I thought it better that the masters
should endure more hardships than that the horses should go without
grass. We were rewarded for our short ride by the knowledge that our
horses had something to eat, and we could sleep in peace without having
to think that our animals were starving.

But before we could sleep hunger compelled us to kill a sheep which we
had bought from a farmer living near. In that part of Cape Colony
sheep-farming is almost the only occupation, and so well adapted is this
district for rearing sheep that it is quite an exception to see a lean
one. It may interest some of my readers to know that the African sheep
has a very remarkable pec