I ordered General Fourie and General Froneman to oppose the enemy, for it was necessary that something should be done to save our rearguard from being cut off.

These Generals had several sharp engagements with the English, resulting in the capture of a number of prisoners, and a considerable loss in dead and wounded to the English.
After we had been on the march for a short time, a "Broodspioen"[86] came rushing up to me.

(Had not my scouts been riding in a different direction they would have given me notice of his proximity.) He told me that he and a friend of his of the same calling had gone to a farm near by to buy bread, but when they had approached the house, a number of English soldiers appeared at the door and called out "hands up!" His friend had been captured, but he having been some fifteen paces from the house, had managed to escape under a hail of bullets.

He had had to gallop one thousand paces before he could get out of range behind a ridge that stretched between us and the farm.

I ordered the burghers to halt behind the ridge, and sent a small body of men ahead to determine the strength of the enemy.