For I heard a few days later that the enemy had not been able to pursue the laager as their draft-cattle and horses were so completely exhausted, that they had fallen down dead in heaps.

I heard also that they had soon been made acquainted with the fact that I was on my way back to the Free State, where I would soon begin again to wreck railway lines and telegraph wires.

They had also discovered that President Steyn had left the laager and was on the road to Machadodorp.
It was on the 18th of August, 1900, that we were able to eat our crust of bread in safety on the farm just mentioned, and to let our horses have as much food as they wanted.

It seemed that for the time being a heavy burden had fallen from our shoulders.

That afternoon we crossed the Krokodil River, and stopped at a "winkel"[69] under the Witwatersrand, which had been spared as yet, although it was nearly empty of stores.