anks of the river, were many
bushes amongst which they could hide themselves until the enemy had
passed by. They could then proceed along the banks of the river and
cross it by means of the boat. I cautioned them not to march in one
troop, or in one trail, but to spread out, so that the English could not
easily follow their tracks. In this the poor burghers succeeded; they
already, on that memorable and sad day, had marched eighteen miles; but
they had yet to cover another five miles to the river before they could
take their night's rest. They accomplished this feat (on the second day)
under the valiant and true Commandant Hasebroek, whose horse, although
tired, was still able to proceed. As for me, I marched away in the
evening, and after we had rested that night for a few hours, we arrived
at a place a short distance to the south of Hopetown. About eight
o'clock we crossed the line, which was fortunately at that point not as
yet guarded by forts, and off-saddled about six miles beyond. We had
eaten nothing since the previous day, and it will easily be understood
that we were so hungry that we, as the Boer proverb says,--"could have
eaten off a nail's head." There we got some sheep, and it was not long
before they were killed, broiled, and eaten; what a meal we made!

Towards mid-day we headed once more for the Orange River. We thought
that by the time we arrived it would be fordable, for we had seen on the
previous morning that it was falling rapidly, but what was our
disappointment! there must have been rain higher up the stream, as the
river had become fuller, and there was still no chance of crossing.

The English were approaching. We had, however, to use our field glasses
to enable us to see them, as we were fifteen or sixteen miles in front
of them. Once more there were burghers whose horses were tired and who
had to march on foot. We thought now that there would be a better chance
at Limoensdrift; and every one who knew this ford said that it was a
shallow one. The following day saw us there, and--the river was quite
full! We then tried higher up, still with the same result--every drift
was unfordable.

At last we reached the Zanddrift, where we had crossed seventeen days
before. We knew that this was a shallow drift, and on arriving there I
got two young burghers,--of whom the one, David Heenop, was an excellent
swimmer,--to make a trial. The water had not appeared to be so deep as
we found it to be, when the