groans and cries of the wounded burghers
could be heard in the immediate neighbourhood of the English outposts.
Some burghers volunteered to go, under cover of the darkness, to see
if they could save these wounded men. They cautiously crept up to the
foot of the kopjes, from where they could plainly see the English
sentinels, and a little further down found in a ditch two of our
wounded, named Brand and Liebenberg; the first had an arm and a leg
smashed, the latter had a bullet in his thigh.

One can imagine what a terrible plight they were in after laying there
for two nights and a day, exposed to the night's severe cold and the
day's scorching sun. Their wounds were already decomposing, and the
odour was most objectionable.

The two unfortunate men were at once carried to the laager and
attended to with greatest care. Poor Liebenberg died of his wounds
soon after. Brand, the youngest son of the late President Brand, of
the Orange Free State, soon recovered, if I remember rightly.

At the risk of incurring the displeasure of a great number of people
by adding the following statement to my description of the battle of
Vaalkrantz, I feel bound to state that Commandant-General Joubert,
after our successes at Colenso, Spion Kop, and Vaalkrantz, asked the
two State Presidents, Kruger and Steyn, to consider the urgency of
making peace overtures to the English Government. He pointed out that
the Republics had no doubt reached the summit of their glory in the
War. The proposal read as follows: That the Republican troops should
at once evacuate British territory, compensation to be given for the
damage to property, etc., inflicted by our commandos, against which
the British Government was to guarantee that the Republics should be
spared from any further incursions or attacks from British troops, and
to waive its claim of Suzerainty; and that the British Government
should undertake not to interfere with the internal affairs and legal
procedure of the two Republics, and grant general amnesty to the
colonial rebels.

Commander-in-Chief Joubert defended these proposals by pointing out
that England was at that moment in difficulties, and had suffered
repeated serious defeats. The opportunity should be taken, urged the
General.

He was supported by several officers, but other Boer leaders contended
that Natal, originally Boer territory, should never again be ceded to
the enemy. As we heard nothing more of these proposals, I su