f the farmers were allowed from time to time to
go home and attend to pressing matters of their farms, such as
harvesting, shearing sheep, etc. Men were chosen by the farmers to go
and attend to matters not only for themselves but for other farmers in
their districts as well. The net result of all this was that when
everybody who could on some pretext or other obtain furlough had done
so, about a third of each commando was missing. My burghers who were
mostly men from the Witwatersrand Goldfields, could of course obtain
no leave for farming purposes; and great dissatisfaction prevailed. I
was inundated with complaints about their unfair treatment in this
respect and only settled matters with considerable trouble.

I agree that this matter had to be regulated somehow, and I do not
blame the authorities for their inability to cope with the
difficulty. It seemed a great pity, however, that the commandos should
be weakened so much and that the fighting spirit should be destroyed
in this fashion. Of course it was our first big war and our
arrangements were naturally of a very primitive character.

It was the beginning of May before our friends the enemy at Ladysmith
and Elandslaagte began to show some signs of activity. We discovered
unmistakable signs that some big forward movement was in progress, but
we could not discover on which point the attack was to be directed.
Buller and his men were marching on the road along Vantondersnek, and
I scented heavy fighting for us again. I gathered a strong patrol and
started out to reconnoitre the position. We found that the enemy had
pitched their camp past Waschbank in great force, and were sending out
detachments in an easterly direction. From this I concluded that they
did not propose going through Vantondersnek, but that they intended to
attack our left flank at Helpmakaar. This seemed to me, at any rate,
to be General Buller's safest plan.

Helpmakaar was east of my position; it is a little village elbowed in
a pass in the Biggarsbergen. By taking this point one could hold the
key to our entire extended line of defence, as was subsequently only
too clearly shown. I pointed this out to some of our generals, but a
commandant's opinion did not weigh much just then; nor was any notice
taken of a similar warning from Commandant Christian Botha, who held a
position close to mine with the Swaziland burghers.

We had repeated skirmishes with the English outposts during our
scouting