IV

DEWETSDRIFT--RETURN TO, AND FLIGHT FROM, PRETORIA


After the relief of Kimberley and Ladysmith we imagined that the
decisive battles would soon follow. Although my knee was not yet cured,
I went to Glencoe, whither our commandos had retreated. I was not five
days there when I had to leave, being unfit for active service. Again I
went to Warmbad for some weeks with Mr. Burgemeester Potgieter and his
family, and on my return to Pretoria remained in my office until the
beginning of May.

Meanwhile Frits had returned from the Free State, and my knee was cured.
We each bought ourselves a sturdy pony, and left, with some other
burghers, by train for Klerksdorp, from where we went on to Dewetsdrift,
on the Vaal River. General Viljoen was guarding the drift there with
some hundreds of burghers. We rode from there some four or five hours
into the Free State to spy the movements of the enemy.

From Dewetsdrift we went, under Commandant Boshoff, to Schoemansdrift,
Venterskroon, and Lindequidrift. Our division formed part of the escort
for the guns. Our route lay through beautiful scenery. The Vaal twists
and bends between two high mountains that curve on either side like the
roads the khaki makes with his double row of waggons over the hills of
the Hoogeveld. In every opening of the mountains lies a farm, a mean
little house, but among well-cultivated fields. In nearly every farm the