"To prevent armoured trains from cutting off our transit, men were
sent ahead to destroy the line at two points. Here again we
committed a few blunders for which we had to suffer. In the first
instance the line was blown up at too early an hour that night,
long before we were ready to pass over. The explosions reported our
presence, and the armoured trains were despatched to restore the
line. Then again, owing to the darkness the points where the line
was destroyed were not sufficiently far apart. This we discovered
when the enemy's guns began to roar and their shells exploded in
our midst.

"Before reaching the line there was something to get through--a
swamp at least 1500 paces broad. One can hardly have an idea what
this swamp was like, and how much trouble it cost us and our poor
animals to get through it. This was a veritable 'Slough of
Despond.' It was covered with water from one side to the other, and
we had to wade through knee deep, and sometimes the water reached
to our loins. The water was no serious obstacle, but the ground was
of a morass-like nature that our animals sank in to their knees and
often to their girths. Most of the burghers had to dismount and
lead their horses. Every now and then a horse would stumble, and
down came the rider splashing in the mud and water. I led my
faithful 'Klein Booi' all the way, walking knee deep through mud
and water. Just think how we must have looked the following
morning, with clogs of mud attached to our clothes, hands and
faces, while our horses were baptised in mud! The waggons and guns
gave us most trouble. It was quite impossible to get these through
the swamp. They stuck in the mud, with draft animals and all. We
had as many as fifty oxen before one waggon, but they could not
move it an inch. Some mules sank in so deep that they could not