ve miles from General Hattingh, and the English were twelve miles
ahead. General Michal Prinsloo was unfortunately a considerable distance
away; and thus it was that I could not at once get together my whole
force of six hundred burghers.

But General Michal Prinsloo had spent the time in attacking the English
force on their left front. Shortly after he had engaged the enemy I came
up behind them and delivered an attack on their right. But the veldt was
very uneven and high hills and intervening hollows made any co-operation
between us impossible, for one force could not tell where the other
force was.

Meanwhile General Hattingh had attacked the enemy in the rear and thus
compelled them to withdraw their vanguard, which was then not far from
the women's laager and had nearly succeeded in capturing it. But now
that the whole force of the enemy was opposed to General Hattingh, he
was forced to give way and leave his positions. We lost two killed and
three wounded. Among the dead was the valiant F.C. Klopper of Kroonstad.

When I, with General Wessels and Commandant Hermanus Botha hurried up,
Commandant Hattingh was just on the point of retreating.

The English I saw numbered about a thousand mounted men and they had
three guns with them. I determined to make a flank attack, and
accordingly marched round to their right, at the same time sending
orders to General Prinsloo to get in the rear, or if he preferred in
front of the enemy, so that we might make a united attack upon them as
they marched in the direction of Lindley.

It now began to rain and a little later a very heavy thunderstorm burst
on our heads. This forced the English to halt on the farm of
Victoriespruit.

The rain continued to fall in torrents and hindered General Prinsloo
carrying out my orders.

And now the sun went down.

As our horses were quite exhausted by the hot pursuit after the English,
and the burghers wet through to the skin, I decided to postpone the
attack to the following day. I was also influenced in my decision by the
consideration that as the English were so far from any point from which
reinforcements could come, it was quite safe to let them alone until the
morning. Nobody could have foreseen that they would escape that night.

We slept about five miles from them to the north-east, whilst General
Prinsloo and his men were not very far away to the south-east.

That night we placed the ordinary outposts, but no "brandwachten."