Then I marched forward again.
At break of day we were close to the Valsch River.

Here I made a short halt, in order to allow the stragglers to come up.

It was then that a man came to me who had been riding far behind, and had thus not seen that we had cut the wire.

He was probably one of those who quite needlessly feared a blockhouse line.
"General, when shall we come to the blockhouses ?" he asked me.
"Oh! we are through long ago!" I answered.
It did not require any deep insight, I can assure you, to see how delighted this burgher was that we were safely out of it! We discovered now that the cattle had not crossed the line.

When I investigated the matter more closely, I found that they had gone astray before we reached the blockhouses.