When he was out of their clutches, I sent him orders to bring the guns through the blockhouse line between Lindley and Bethlehem, and then to push on towards Winburg.
It was my intention, on arriving there, to collect as rapidly as possible a commando from the men of Bethlehem, Kroonstad, and Winburg, and to attack the first column that gave me a chance of doing so.
Commandant Mears carried out my orders at once.

A force of the enemy had been waiting for him for three or four days at the farm of Fanny's Home, on the Liebenbergsvlei.

But before the sun had risen, a strong force under Colonel Byng had surrounded him and forced him to abandon the guns.

And not only were the guns lost, but Captain Muller and thirteen gunners were taken prisoner.
Thus the guns had not been of much benefit to us, for the English had kept us so constantly on the move that it had been impossible to use them.
The forces of the enemy between Harrismith and Vrede had formed a line extending from the Harrismith-Bethlehem blockhouses to the blockhouses between Vrede, Frankfort and Heilbron.

And now the troops were advancing in close contact with each other, hoping thus to force us against one or other line of blockhouses.
Nearer and nearer they came, until at noon on February the 5th we saw them to the east of Liebenbergsvlei.