ere all that I could bring back to the fight,
whilst, as I have said, the Commandants had a hundred with them when
they charged; the rest, regardless of my attempts to stop them, fled.

I was also without my staff, some of whom had remained under the fire of
the enemy awaiting my orders as to what was to be done with my little
waggon. Others, amongst whom was my son Kootie, who was then acting as
my secretary, had followed me, but had got lost in the confusion of the
moment.

This confusion arose from the fact that the burghers imagined that they
had got through at the first attempt, but had found themselves again
fired at from the front. Meanwhile, I hurried to and fro, encouraging
the burghers in their attempts to break through. When thus engaged I
came across two of my staff, Albertus Theunissen and Burt Nissey. To
them I gave the order: "Get the waggon through at all costs." I also
found my son, Isaac, and kept him with me. The English now were firing
not only from in front but also on our right, and there was nothing for
it but to clear a road for ourselves, and this we eventually succeeded
in doing, and in about forty minutes had at last broken through.

The enemy had dug trenches, thirty to forty paces from each other, which
served as _schanzes_. In each of these trenches were placed ten to
thirty men. They had also a Maxim-Nordenfeldt, which, at first, kept up
a hot fire; but soon was silenced as the gunners were shot down. The
rest of the troops retired with the gun, but had to leave the caisson
behind them. It was evident to me from the way in which they fired that
the English were retreating, and so I dispatched two men to tell the
burghers, who had gone back, to come on; but this they did not do,
thinking perhaps that they could discover a safer route on the following
evening. This was short-sighted policy on their part, for the circle
within which they were caught was daily becoming narrower, and it was
plain that on the third day the enemy would be so close that all hope of
escape would be gone.

The two burghers did not return, and we went on without them, taking
with us our wounded--twelve in number. Two of these, whose injuries were
serious, had been placed by some of my staff on my waggon; one was Van
der Merwe, a member of President Steyn's bodyguard; the other was a boy
of thirteen years old, named Olivier.

We hurried on, and came, shortly after sundown, to the farm called
"Bavaria," on the Bot