be heard in the distance
offering his kingdom for a horse and a Cape cart. Cecil and I decided
our horses were done up and that we were too ignorant of the trail to
know where to run. So we decided to go to sleep. In the morning we
confessed that each had been afraid the other would want to escape, and
each wanted only to be allowed to go to sleep again. Loosberg's Cape
Cart and five mules having arrived we packed our things on it and
started again for the Sand River where we spent the night on Cronje's
farm. Mrs. Cronje had taken away all the bedding but Dr. Reid gave
Cecil his field mattress and I made one out of rugs and piano covers.
In the morning I found that the iron straps of the mattress had marked
me for life like a grilled beefsteak. There were only Reid and his
assistant surgeon in the farmhouse and they were greatly excited at
having a woman to look after.

We bade farewell to Loosberg who had found his artillery push, and
started off in his Cape Cart which he wished us to use and take back
for him for safety to Del Hay at Pretoria. Our objective point was the
railroad bridge over the sand. The Boers were on one bank, the British
about seven miles back on the other, the trail ran along the British
side of the river which was sad of it. However, we drove on, I riding
and Cecil and Christian, the Kaffir, in the Cart. We saw no one for
several hours except some Kaffir Kraals and we almost ran into two
herds of deer. I counted twenty-six in one herd, they were about a
quarter of a mile away. We came to a cross road and I decided to put
back as we had lost track of the river and were bearing straight into
the English lines. Just as we found the river again and had got across
a drift cannon opened on our right. We then knew we were in between
the Boers and the English but we had no other knowledge of our
geographical position. Such being the case we decided to outspan and
lunch. Out-spanning is setting the mules and horses at liberty,
in-spanning trying to catch them again. It takes five minutes to
out-span, and three hours to in-span. We had Armour's corned beef and
Libby's canned bacon. Cecil cooked the bacon on a stick and we ate it
with biscuits captured by our Boer friends at Cronje's farm from the
English Tommies. About three o'clock we started off again, and were
captured by three Boers. I was riding behind the cart and threw up my
hands "that quick," but Cecil could not hear me yelli