on, but Generals Botha and Smuts were active and resourceful
and in a few weeks had 40,000 men in the field. The loyal Boers were
in a difficult position, for now they were asked to fight against
their own kith and kin for the British Empire. In battle the Dutch
generals showed that they were anxious to spare their own kinsmen, and
ordered their men to withhold firing to the last moment, hoping that
the rebels would surrender. The rebels were not allowed time to join
their forces, for General Botha gave them no rest night or day.

On October 27, 1914, General Beyers and his commando operating near
Rustenburg were driven in headlong flight all day long by General
Botha and a force of loyalists. Two days later General Beyers was a
fugitive. His scattered commandos were defeated by Colonel Alberts at
Lichtenburg and again at Zuitpansdrift on November 5, 1914. Meanwhile,
Colonel Kemp, who had been acting with General Beyers, now separated
from his chief, and with a large force started for German Southwest
Africa, pursued by Colonel Alberts. Beyers, trying to get in touch
with De Wet, entered the Orange Free State, closely followed by a
large loyalist force under Colonel Lemmer.

On November 7, 1914, Beyers's commando was attacked by Lemmer near the
Vet River and though Beyers led in person, he was defeated, and, 364
of his men being captured and about 20 killed or wounded, the fugitive
remnant returned to Hoopstad. De Wet, whom General Beyers had been
prevented from joining by the activity of the loyalist forces, had
gathered together in the northern districts of the Orange Free State a
poorly organized body of soldiers, but sufficient in numbers to cause
the South African Government some anxiety. Negotiations between the
Free State leaders and De Wet postponed for a time any military action
by the Government, but the old guerrilla captain was not to be
pacified. There had been a rivalry between him and Botha in the Boer
war, and he seemed anxious to measure strength now with a soldier whom
he considered his inferior.

De Wet's name was a power in the land, especially among the "poor
whites" and the squatter class, who without much intelligence or
education had not prospered under new conditions in the Union. They
were without hope for the future and felt that they were being crowded
out by the more active spirits in the country. They saw in the
rebellion a chance to improve their economic position. There was
little to l