On the 12th of October the Bodyguard for the German South-West Campaign
assembled for field practices, etc., at Pretoria. On the 20th we heard
that we should be leaving at an hour's notice, presumably for the
South-West. The following day wild and disquieting rumours began to
circulate from early morning. Maritz had gone into rebellion.
Motor-cars sped all forenoon between General Botha's house close to us
and the Union Defence Headquarters. Our camp was full of alarms. The
police of Pretoria became suddenly twice as many about the streets.
Towards evening it was positively stated that plots were afoot aiming at
nothing less than the life of General Botha; and the Main Guard, which
had been mounted at the General's house from the day of the Bodyguard's
formation, was doubled. Not a soul was allowed within or around the
modest grounds of the house without challenge at the point of the bayonet
and presentment of the countersign. It will be long before memory loses
the picture of those evenings, when through the lighted windows of the
left wing of the house the Main Guard first and second reliefs got a view
of a familiar ample figure in anxious consultations at a table upon which
the electric light cast a mellow glow.

The next day, the 22nd of October, rumour gave way to fact. Rebellion
had definitely broken out in the Transvaal and the Free State; Beyers,
the ex-Commandant General, Kemp and others were leading in the
Transvaal; the names of De Wet and Wessel Wessels were coupled with the
Free State. For the second time within a year unhappy South Africa
heard rumours of imminent Martial Law proclamations.

Monday morning, the 26th, arrived and found us still waiting; then the
Bodyguard got twenty minutes' notice and entrained, horses, kits and
everything for Rustenburg. We arrived there at five o'clock the
following morning, and started at once in pursuit of rebel commandos