to issue them on
a Sunday afternoon. Amongst the thousands of cases that my depots were
handling were many containing presents of tobacco, pipes, books, and so
on, to the men of the contingents. When the unpacking of those that had
arrived at Derdepoort had taken place on the Sunday afternoon it was
discovered that several very large ones contained women's and children's
garments of all kinds and descriptions. The Tommies were not slow in
appreciating the situation. The sounds of hearty laughter were soon
ringing throughout the camp. I heard it in my tent, where I was taking a
quiet afternoon nap. I went out to see what was happening. It was indeed
a quaint sight. An amateur fancy dress ball was being held, and anything
more comical it is difficult to imagine. The explanation of the arrival
of the costumes was soon made clear. An association of ladies had been
formed in New Zealand with the object of supplying clothing for the Boer
women and children in the refugee camps that had been established by us
for them in South Africa. The cases containing the clothing had been
forwarded to Derdepoort by mistake.

During Lord Roberts's stay in Pretoria it was discovered that a plot was
set on foot to kidnap the Commander-in-Chief. It was, however, nipped in
the bud. One of the leaders was an officer of the Transvaal State
Permanent Artillery. The plot, of course, failed and the officer was
brought to trial and duly shot. Tommy enjoyed his bit of fun over the
attempt to kidnap Lord Roberts. At that time Lady Roberts and her
daughters were at Pretoria, and the Tommies thought that it wouldn't be
so bad if they kidnapped Lady Roberts, but they had the strongest
objection to losing Bobs.

Previous to the Battle of Diamond Hill a short armistice was arranged
for. The commanding officer of the Boers opposed to us at the time was
General Louis Botha. The military situation then was a difficult one. Had
it not been that just then General De Wet, in the north-eastern part of
the Orange River Colony, had become suddenly and successfully aggressive,
it was probable that General Botha would have come to terms. However, as
the result of De Wet's action he decided to carry on. The interesting
point in the incident was the fact that General Botha's wife was selected
as our emissary. Probably it was the first time, and the last, that the
wife of an enemy's general acted in such a capacity.

On our arrival in Pretoria the whole of the conditi