extricate themselves, and were left to die in the mud!

"At daybreak the guns, De Wet's waggonette and a few carts were
through the swamp; the rest of the convoy was still in it. General
Fourie and a hundred burghers were left with the waggons while the
commando proceeded to the line. At sunrise we were safely on the
other side of the line, where we waited for Fourie. Suddenly, and
very unexpectedly, a shell exploded in our midst, like a
thunderbolt from a clear sky. I looked about to see whence it came;
but before my eyes detected the armoured trains, another and yet
another shell dropped in our midst. I say _in our midst_, for we
were riding in close formation when these horrible projectiles were
hurled upon us. As our horses were very tired and the veldt soaked
through and through by the heavy rains, we could not scatter, nor
ride fast, as we usually do when exposed to cannon fire in the open
veldt. Thus slowly we rode on under this cannonade. And how
wonderful none were injured! The hand of the invisible omnipresent
God must have shielded us. At last we were out of the cannon's
reach. Meanwhile the line had been repaired, the armoured trains
moved freely up and down. Fourie, five other officers, and about a
hundred burghers were now cut off from the commando. The burghers
found their way back to the Free State; the officers followed us
up, but, alas! met us only when we were on the point of recrossing
the Orange River.

"In what a sorry plight we now were! Some of our ablest officers
severed from us at a time when they were most needed. Their absence
caused the greatest confusion, for now there were numbers of men
without any officers. Besides, it was then impossible to carry out
the idea of splitting up the commando without officers. Hence we