The following morning, an hour and a half after sunrise, a burgher came
galloping up to tell us that the enemy had just captured a laager of
women.[97]

It seemed impossible to ride over to the rescue of these women, for our
horses had still to make the long journey into the Transvaal. I asked
our guest, General De la Rey, what he thought about the matter. He at
once replied that we must go and liberate the women. As we were already
up-saddled in readiness for our march, I had nothing to do but to give
the order to start. The President, with his staff and some of the
bodyguard, remained behind; while General De la Rey, Commandant Davel
and I, with fifty-five men, hurried off. The retired General, Piet
Fourie, was also with us.

The enemy had marched with the laager on to a hill near the Kaffir
kraal, consisting of four or five huts and a building made of sods.

We first caught sight of the English when we were at a distance of four
miles from them; they were then busy drawing up the waggons of the women
in rows of ten or twelve. The oxen belonging to the first row stood
close against the kraal, as we saw later on; those of the second row
being behind them, and so on.

The women told us afterwards that they had asked to be allowed to retire
to a place where they would not run the risk of being shot by us (for
the English had taken cover barely one hundred paces behind the waggons
and were preparing to fight us from there), but that they were ordered
to remain behind the soldiers. They were thus exposed to the danger of
being hit by us, if we shot a little too high. It was, they said, the
most terrible day they had ever spent.