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A few days before the flight from Poplar Grove, I had appointed Danie Theron captain of a scouting party. I now left him and his corps behind, with instructions to keep me informed of Lord Roberts' movements, and proceeded myself to Bloemfontein. There I disposed the available forces for defence, and kept them occupied in throwing up schanzes.
The ridges were so thickly strewn with boulders, that even on the arrival of the guns, it was impossible to place them in position until we had first cleared a path for them. I made up my mind to turn these boulders to account by using them to build schanzes, for I knew that a tremendous bombardment would be opened upon our poor Krupp and Maxim-Nordenfeldt as soon as they made themselves heard.
General Botha, who had with him Jan and Arnoldus Du Plessis as guides, went from Boesmansbank to a tafelkop, to the south-east of the town. On this mountain the English had thrown up splendid schanzes, and had also built gun forts there, which would have been very advantageous to us, if we had only had more ammunition.
As one watched them creeping from schanze to schanze, often without any cover whatever, and in danger at every moment of falling under the enemy's fire, one felt that there was still hope. On the first day we advanced until we were close to the schanzes on the south-east and on the north; we remained there during the night in our positions, our food being brought to us.
"The schanzes are down," screamed the people, seeing the long line of cattle move, and immediately they began to press forward also. At Suzanne's side was a young woman so weak with thirst that she could scarcely walk, and on her back a year-old boy, insensible but living, for a red froth bubbled from his lips.
The English now were firing not only from in front but also on our right, and there was nothing for it but to clear a road for ourselves, and this we eventually succeeded in doing, and in about forty minutes had at last broken through. The enemy had dug trenches, thirty to forty paces from each other, which served as schanzes. In each of these trenches were placed ten to thirty men.
The gunners have momentarily thrown over their first commandment and cheerfully split up batteries. They also lie beneath the schanzes and let the enemy bombard the dumb guns if he will till the moment comes to fire; that moment you need never be afraid that the R.A. will be anywhere but with the guns. The enemy's shell and long-range rifle-fire dropped at half-past six.
These schanzes were erected to the west and south of the town, and at distances of from four to six miles from it. On the evening of the 12th of March, Lord Roberts appeared, and a few skirmishes ensued south of the town, but no engagement of any importance took place. We awaited the morrow with various forebodings.
This ridge, however, was broken away for a width of two or three hundred yards, perhaps by some outrush of lava, the road running through the centre of the gap on which schanzes had been built here and there for purposes of defence. Looking at these I saw that they were very old and inefficient and asked when they had been erected.
Except for one manhole the pass leading to the top of the mountain was closed, and the schanzes, or walls, which protected the mouth of the river that welled from the hillside between the eastern ridges were strengthened and garrisoned.
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