spent the first weeks of September at Godwan River and Nooitgedacht
Station, near the Delagoa Bay railway, and had a fairly quiet time of
it. General Buller had meanwhile pushed on with his forces via
Lydenburg in the direction of Spitskop and the Sabi, on which General
Botha had been compelled to concentrate himself after falling back,
fighting steadily, while General French threatened Barberton.

I had expected Pole-Carew to force me off the railway line along which
we held some rather strong positions, and I intended to offer a stout
resistance. But the English general left me severely alone, went over
Dwaalheuvel by an abandoned wagon-track, and crossed the plateau of
the mountains, probably to try and cut us off through the pass near
Duivelskantoor. I tried hard, with the aid of 150 burghers, to thwart
his plans and we had some fighting. But the locality was against us,
and the enemy with their great force of infantry and with the help of
their guns forced us to retire.

About the 11th of September I was ordered to fall back along the
railway, via Duivelskantoor and Nelspruit Station, since General
Buller was threatening Nelspruit in the direction of Spitskop, while
General French, with a great force, was nearing Barberton. It appeared
extremely likely that we should be surrounded very soon. We marched
through the Godwan River and over the colossal mountain near
Duivelskantoor, destroying the railway bridges behind us. The road we
followed was swamped by the heavy rains and nearly impassable. Carts
were continually being upset, breakdowns were frequent, and our guns
often stuck in the swampy ground. To make matters worse, a burgher on
horseback arrived about midnight to tell us that Buller's column had
taken Nelspruit Station, and cut off our means of retreat. Yet we had
to pass Nelspruit; there was no help for it. I gave instructions for
the waggons and carts (numbering over a hundred), to push on as
quickly as possible, and sent out a strong mounted advance guard to
escort them.

I myself went out scouting with some burghers, for I wanted to find
out before daybreak whether Nelspruit was really in the hands of the
enemy or not. In that case our carts and guns would have to be
destroyed or hidden, while the commando would have to escape along
the footpaths. We crept up to the station, and just at dawn, when we
were only a hundred paces away from it, a great fire burst out,
accompanied by occasional loud report