ceal themselves here and feed up their
animals, whilst De Wet himself, with the other half of his force,
scoured the country to within ten miles of Johannesburg.

In the evening I arrived at a mission station, where the only whites
were the missionary's young daughter and her youthful brother. Their
father had left for a visit shortly before the war broke out, and had
not been able to return. They themselves had done the mission work,
unaided, through all these anxious months. And remember that at this
time the bushveld Kafirs were waging war amongst themselves!

The next day I encountered a couple of waggons laden with ammunition for
Delarey. The escort told me they had left Middelburg eighteen days
before. Making circuits to avoid the enemy and taking wrong roads had
delayed them.

Then--it is wonderful how news travels amongst the Kafirs--I heard that
Steyn was also somewhere in the bush, on the way to join the Transvaal
Government. Fortunately for me, I rode right into his party that
evening, just as they were starting off again. I had only off-saddled
once since sunrise, but the chance was too good to be missed, and I
joined them. The party consisted of barely fifty men--not an extravagant
escort, but sufficient, under the circumstances.

We travelled till midnight, halted for an hour, and then forward again
till sunrise, when we crossed the Pienaar's River. Here we found a
fair-sized commando under a general whose name I forget, as that was the
only time I ever heard it. He was expecting an attack, the waggons were
already retreating. We halted long enough to prepare breakfast, during
which time the President shot a few bush doves. Hardly had we finished
the meal when the rat-tat, rat-tat of small-arms showed that the British
were approaching. Then a Maxim rattled forth amongst the rocks, and
warned us that the action had begun in earnest.

The commando kept the enemy back just long enough to give us a decent
start, and then retired. We afterwards learnt that this British
force--under Barnum-Powell, of Tarascon--had been sent out from Pretoria
expressly to intercept us. It was a close thing--had the enemy been a
little smarter they might have had us. As it was, we doubled away under
cover of the bush, and were soon out of reach.

Now followed a week of rapid trekking, varied with a little shooting now
and then at the partridges and bright-plumaged birds that abound in the
bushveld, and once relieved by the s