source of trouble, for many Boer
officers and burghers treated them without any ceremony, simply taking
away what they wanted for their commandos. I did not at all agree with
this way of doing things, for so long as a foreign subject, though an
Englishman, is allowed to remain within the fighting lines, he has a
right to protection and fairness, and no difference ought to be made
between him and the burghers who stay at home, when there is any
fighting to be done.

From Pietersburg we went to Nylstroom, a village on the railway to
which I had been summoned by telegram by the Commandant-General, who
had arrived there on his way to the westerly districts, this being the
first I had heard of him after we had parted at the foot of the
Mauchberg, near Mac Mac.

I travelled by rail, accompanied by one of my commandants. The way
they managed to keep up steam was delightfully primitive. We did not,
indeed, fly along the rails, yet we very often went at the rate of
nine miles an hour!

When our supply of wood got exhausted, we would just stop the train,
or the train would stop itself, and the passengers were politely
requested to get out and take a hand at cutting down trees and
carrying wood. This had a delicious flavour of the old time stage
coach about it, when first, second, and third class passengers
travelled in the same compartment, although the prices of the
different classes varied considerably. When a coach came to the foot
of a mountain the travellers would, however, soon find out where the
difference between the classes lay, for the driver would order all
first-class passengers to keep their seats, second-class passengers to
get out and walk, and third-class passengers to get out and push.

We got to our destination, however, although the chances seemed to
have been against it. I myself had laid any odds against ever arriving
alive.

At Nylstroom we found President Steyn and suite, who had just arrived,
causing a great stir in this sleepy little village, which had now
become a frontier village of the territory in which we still held
sway.

A great popular meeting was held, which President Steyn opened with a
manly speech, followed by a no less stirring one from our
Commandant-General, both exhorting the burghers to do their duty
towards their country and towards themselves by remaining faithful to
the Cause, as the very existence of our nation depended on it.

In the afternoon the officers met in an empty