from the forts was directed against them. They were not slow to respond
to this reception, and that so effectively that the commanding officer
was soon willing to entrust himself with his 130 men to our keeping. All
was over.

At 3 P.M. we departed. The English commandant and his men accompanied
us for some distance, and then we dismissed them after their having
promised that they would remain strictly neutral.


CAPTAIN SPANDOW SURPRISED.

While operating in the Cradock district I learnt that a certain Captain
Spandow, with about ninety men, was on the track of a small party of
Boers. Only _ninety_! The small number tempted us to try to effect their
capture, which, as a rule, was not a very difficult nor dangerous
operation. Taking forty burghers I started at midnight, and at dawn
found myself still six miles from the enemy. Lest they should escape I
took twelve men with the best animals, and with these proceeded ahead,
so as to engage the enemy until the rest, whose horses were very tired,
should come to our assistance.

About half an hour after sunrise we unexpectedly lighted on the pickets
of the enemy, who camped for the night in the Waterkloof valley, twenty
miles from Cradock. The pickets were charged and captured, and we seized
a position hardly 200 yards from the English, who had off-saddled at a
wall.

A brisk firing from both sides then ensued. The wall served the enemy in
good stead. From there they could fire volley after volley on us. But