English took the Government and President Steyn's bodyguard prisoners,
they had had a Free State burgher as their guide.

The vacant posts in the Government had now to be filled up, and the
President appointed the following persons:--In the place of A.P. Cronje,
General C.H. Olivier, as Member of the Executive Council; and in place
of Mr. T. Brain, Mr. W.C.J. Brebner, as Government Secretary. Mr.
Johannes Theron he appointed Secretary to the Executive Council, instead
of Mr. Rocco De Villiers; and Mr. B.J. Du Plessis Private Secretary to
himself in place of Mr. Gordon Fraser.

The President also decided to have, in future, only thirty burghers as
his bodyguard, and appointed Captain Niekerk as their Commandant.




CHAPTER XXX

The Last Proclamation


I now impressed upon my officers as forcibly as I could the importance
of intercepting the communications of the enemy by blowing up their
trains. A mechanical device had been thought of, by which this could be
done. The barrel and lock of a gun, in connexion with a dynamite
cartridge, were placed under a sleeper, so that when a passing engine
pressed the rail on to this machine, it exploded, and the train was
blown up. It was terrible to take human lives in such a manner; still,
however fearful, it was not contrary to the rules of civilized warfare,