that our
cause is a just one, and there cannot be any doubt, for it is with the
contents of just this Psalm that they commenced with us in their
wickedness, and I am still searching the entire Bible, and find no other
way which can be followed than that which has been followed by us, and we
must continue to fight in the name of the Lord.

"Please notify all the officers of war and the entire public of your
district of the contents of this telegram, and imbue them with a full
earnestness of the cause."

When the President learned that Commandant-General Joubert had determined
to retreat from the neighbourhood of Ladysmith he sent a long telegram to
his old friend, imploring him not to take such a step, and entreating him
to retain his forces at the Tugela. The old General led his forces
northward to Glencoe, notwithstanding the President's protest, and a day
afterward Kruger arrived on the scene. The President was warrior enough to
know that a great mistake had been made, and he did not hesitate to show
his displeasure. He and Joubert had had many disagreements in their long
experiences with one another, but those who were present in the General's
tent at that Glencoe interview said that they had never seen the President
so angry. When he had finished giving his opinion of the General's action
the President shook Joubert's hand, and thereafter they discussed matters
calmly and as if there had been no quarrel. To the other men who were
partly responsible for the retreat he showed his resentment of their
actions by declining to shake hands with them, a method of showing
disapprobation that is most cutting to the Boers.

"If I were five years younger, or if my eyesight were better," he growled
at the recalcitrants, "I would take a rifle and bandolier and show you
what we old Boers were accustomed to do. We had courage; you seem to have
none."

After the President had encouraged the officers, and had secured their
promises to continue the resistance against their enemy he wandered about
in the laagers, shaking hands with and infusing new spirit into the
burghers who had flocked together to see their revered leader. When
several thousand of the Boers had gathered around him and were trying to
have a word with him the President bared his head and asked his friends to
join him in prayer. Instantly every head was bared, and Kruger's voice
spread out over the vast concourse in a grand appeal to the God of Battles
to grant His