de a new road which
followed the course of the Klip River up to the Drakensbergen, and
then led through the Biggarsbergen to Newcastle. This road was, I
believe, made for military purposes; but it was very useful to us, and
our wagons were safely got away by it.

Commandant D. Joubert, of the Carolina Commando, then sent a message
asking for reinforcements for the Pretoria laager, situated to the
north-west of Ladysmith. It was a dark night and the rain was pouring
down in torrents, which rendered it very difficult to get the
necessary burghers together for this purpose.

I managed, however, to induce a sufficient number of men to come
together, and we rode back; but on nearing the Pretoria Laager, I
found to my dismay that there were only 22 of us left. What was to be
done? This handful of men was of very little use; yet to return would
have been cowardly, and besides, in the meantime our laager would have
gone on, and would now be several hours' riding ahead of us. I sent
some burghers in advance to see what was happening to the Pretoria
Laager. It seemed strange to me that the place should still be in the
hands of our men, seeing that all the other commandos had long since
retired. After waiting fully an hour, our scouts came back with the
information that the laager was full of English soldiers, and that
they had been able to hear them quarrelling about the booty left
behind by the burghers.

It was now two o'clock in the morning. Our Pretoria comrades were
apparently safe, and considerably relieved we decided to ride to
Elandslaagte which my men would by that time have surely reached. Our
carts were sooner or later bound to arrive there, inasmuch as they
were in charge of a field-cornet known to us as one of our best
"retreat officers." I think it was splendid policy under the
circumstances to appoint such a gentleman to such a task; I felt sure
that the enemy would never overtake him and capture his carts. We
followed the main road, which was fortunately not held by the enemy,
as had been reported to us. On the way we encountered several carts
and waggons which had been cast away by the owners for fear of being
caught up by the pursuing troops. Of course the rumour that this road
was in possession of the English was false, but it increased the panic
among the burghers. Not only carts had been left behind, but, as we
found in places, sacks of flour, tins of coffee, mattresses and other
jettison, thrown out of t