provost-escort and prisoners, twenty-three men. The remainder of the
force was posted along the string of waggons, with the exception of
the rear-guard of about twenty men, which were some distance behind.
Colonel Anstruther, Captains Nairne and Elliott, Lieutenant Hume,
and Adjutant Harrison were riding just in front of the band, when
suddenly Boers appeared all round. The locality that the regiment had
reached at the time was one where stood several farms, and the trees
surrounding these homesteads afforded cover under which a hostile
force could assemble without being perceived from a distance. On the
right was a ravine with wood in it, and amongst that the Boers were
lying in ambush. How unexpected was the appearance of a force of
Boers to the English may be judged from the fact that the band
of the regiment was playing at the time. Colonel Anstruther,
immediately he caught sight of the enemy on the crest of a slight
rise to the front, called a halt, and the order was passed to the
rear for the waggons to close up. Before this could be done a
messenger from the enemy, carrying a white flag, came forward and
handed the Colonel a note signed by Piet Joubert, and countersigned
by other Boer leaders, desiring him to halt where he was until a
reply had been received from Sir Owen Lanyon to the ultimatum the
Boers had addressed to him. The message also contained the warning
that if the soldiers advanced beyond a small stream in front of
them, it would be taken as a declaration of war. Colonel Anstruther,
with Conductor Egerton, had ridden out in front of the advanced
guard to meet this flag of truce; after he had read the message, the
bearer of it informed him verbally that two minutes were allowed for
his decision. Colonel Anstruther verbally replied that he should
march on to Pretoria, and, to use his own words, as published in his
despatch written just before he died, the Boer messenger 'said that
he would take my message to the Commandant-General; and I asked him