We placed our sentries that evening with the greatest care. They were
stationed not only at a distance from the camp, as _Brandwachten_,[13]
but also close round the laager itself. We were especially careful, as
it was rumoured that the English had armed the Zulus of Natal. Had this
been true, it would have been necessary to exercise the utmost vigilance
to guard against these barbarians.

Since the very beginning of our existence as a nation--in 1836--our
people had been acquainted with black races, and bitter had been their
experience. All that our _voortrekkers_[14] had suffered was indelibly
stamped on our memory. We well knew what the Zulus could do under cover
of darkness--their sanguinary night attacks were not easily forgotten.
Their name of "night-wolves" had been well earned. Also we Free-Staters
had endured much from the Basutos, in the wars of 1865 and 1867.

History had thus taught us to place _Brandwachten_ round our laagers at
night, and to reconnoitre during the hours of darkness as well as in the
day-time.

Perhaps I shall be able to give later on a fuller account in these
pages--or, it may be, in another book--of the way we were accustomed to
reconnoitre, and of the reasons why the scouting of the British so
frequently ended in disaster. But I cannot resist saying here that the
English only learnt the art of scouting during the latter part of the
war, when they made use of the Boer deserters--the "Hands-uppers."

These deserters were our undoing. I shall have a good deal more to say
about them before I finally lay down my pen, and I shall not hesitate to
call them by their true name--the name with which they will be for ever