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The number of horses also was insufficient. The district could muster one hundred and fifty-three mounted men and one hundred and twenty-eight voetgangers. In the division of Onderwijk, Middelburg, there were twenty-six mounted men and thirty-eight voetgangers.
The other six English made their escape, although they must have had wounds to show for their rashness. Only a few moments had passed before the roar of guns was mingled with the crack of rifles, and the whole air was filled with the thunder of battle. Everywhere the burghers fought with the utmost valour; the Voetgangers on Wolhuterskop were perhaps the bravest of them all.
We made a curious procession, an endless retinue of carts, waggons, guns, mounted men, "voetgangers" nearly three miles long. The Boers walking comprised 150 burghers without horses, who refused to surrender to the Portuguese, and who had now joined the trek on foot. Of the 1,500 mounted Boers 500 possessed horses which were in such a parlous condition that they could not be ridden.
First, there was the question of horses and in Cape Colony the want of horses was as great, if not greater, than in the Republics. Secondly, it was exceedingly difficult for Colonials to rise, for they knew that not only would they have to be voetgangers, but also that if they were captured they would be very severely punished by the English.
Such of these Voetgangers as were not required to attend to the waggons, I placed at Wolhuterskop. When I had done this I gave notice to the inhabitants of Bethlehem, that as the dorp would be defended, I must insist on the women and children leaving it at once. It was not long before a number of women and children, and even a few men, started out on their way to Fouriesburg.
They had told him that if things did not improve they intended to go on foot to Klerksdorp, and he had replied that they must wait for the result of the negotiations. He had still four hundred mounted men, in addition to one hundred voetgangers. He could hold out for a short time longer, and then would have to look for some way out of his difficulties.
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