stration: Along the Tugela--Coming suddenly upon an English
Outpost.]

By this time the attack was repulsed, and General Buller was in full
retreat to Chieveley, though our commando had been unable to take an
active part in the fighting, at which we were greatly disappointed.
It is much to be regretted that the retreat of the enemy was not
followed up at once. Had this been done, the campaign in Natal would
have taken an entirely different aspect, and very probably would have
been attended by a more favourable conclusion. I consider myself far
from a prophet, but this I know; and if we had then and on subsequent
occasions followed up our successes, the result of the Campaign would
have been far more satisfactory to us.

After I had assisted in bringing away through the river the guns we
had taken, and seen to other matters which required my immediate
attention, I was ordered to remain with the Ermelo commando at
Colenso, near Toomdrift, and to await there further instructions.

A few weeks of inactivity followed, the English sending us each day a
few samples of their shells from their 4.7 Naval guns. Unfortunately,
our guns were of much smaller calibre, and we could send them no
suitable reply. As a rule we would lie in the trenches, and a burgher
would be on the look-out. So soon as he saw the flash of an English
gun, he would cry out; "There's a shell," and we then sought cover, so
that the enemy seldom succeeded in harming us.

One day one of these big shells fell amongst a group of fourteen
burghers who were at dinner. The shell struck a sharp rock, which it
splintered into fragments, and was emitting its yellow lyddite; but,
fortunately, the fuse refused to burn, and the shell did not explode,
so we had a narrow escape that day from a small catastrophe.

My laager had been at Potgietersdrift all this time, and for the time
being we were deprived of our tents. We were not sorry, therefore,
when we were ordered to leave Colenso and to return to our camp.

A few days after we were told off to take up a position at the
junction of the Little and the Big Tugela, between Spion Kop and
Colenso. Here we celebrated our first Christmas in the field; our
friends at Johannesburg had sent us a quantity of presents by means of
a friend, Attorney Raaff, comprising cakes, cigars, cigarettes,
tobacco and other luxuries. Along this part of the Tugela we found a
fair quantity of vegetables, and poultry, and as their respective