returned to the camp. The whole engagement lasted, so
far as I could judge, for about an hour. I cannot say for certain,
because I made no note of the time.

It was a party of Yeomanry with whom we had been dealing, and I must say
they behaved very gallantly under exceptionally trying circumstances;
for it is always to be expected that when men are attacked during the
night a certain amount of confusion must ensue.

It was heartrending to hear the moaning of the wounded in the dark. The
burghers helped the doctors to bring the wounded into the tents, where
they could be attended to; I gave the doctors as much water as they
liked to take for the wounded.

It was greatly to be deplored that the ambulance had been placed in the
centre of the camp, for this was the cause of Dr. Reid being fatally
wounded.

When the day began to dawn we brought the waggons and guns down the
mountain. I sent them in the direction of Langberg, to the west of
Groenkop.

The enemy lost about one hundred and sixteen dead and wounded, and two
hundred and forty prisoners of war.

Our loss was also heavy--fourteen dead and thirty wounded; among the
dead were Commandant Olivier from Bethlehem and Vice-Veldtcornet Jan
Dalebout from Harrismith; among the wounded was one of my own staff,
Gert de Wet. Later on two more died, one of them being Veldtcornet
Louwrens. I appointed Mr. A.J. Bester as Commandant in the place of
Commandant Olivier.

Besides one Armstrong and one Maxim-Nordenfeldt, our booty consisted of
twenty waggons, mostly ox-waggons, a great quantity of rifle and gun
ammunition, guns, tents, five hundred horses and mules, and one waggon
laden with spirits, so that the burghers, who were not averse to this,
could now satisfy their thirst.

The sun had hardly risen when the enemy opened fire from a mountain two
miles to the north-east of Groenkop, where there was a little camp with
one gun. If I still had had the same numbers as were with me at the
storming of Groenkop, then I could also have taken this little camp. But
it was not to be thought of, for some of my men had been sent away with
the waggons, and the others--well, every one had a horse that he had
taken from the English, and as these horses were in the pink of
condition for rapid retreat, I thought it wiser not to call upon the
burghers to attack. I ordered them, therefore, to go back after the
waggons, and in the evening we camped to the north of Bethlehem. From
here, on