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"However necessary it may be," I replied, "it is impossible;" and I pointed out to him that if we were to delay, the English would occupy the ridge between Muishondsfontein and Mostertshoek, and thus obtain the best position. I, therefore, ordered the men to proceed with all speed, and to leave behind those who could not go on.
In the neighbourhood of Bloemfontein, Reddersburg, and Dewetsdorp, and at every other place where it was possible, his troops had made prisoners of burghers who had remained quietly on their farms. The same course of action had been pursued by the column which fell into our hands at Mostertshoek I myself had liberated David Strauss and four other citizens whom I had found there.
I saw that the enemy was not strong enough to occupy the whole ridge, so I at once gave orders to General De Villiers to advance, and to seize the western end at a point just above the farmstead of Mostertshoek. The enemy, observing this manoeuvre, took up their position on the eastern extremity of the ridge.
During the fight at Mostertshoek on the previous day I had kept them under observation, with the result that I learnt that they had entrenched themselves strongly, and that they numbered about sixteen hundred men, though this latter fact was a matter of indifference to me.
His earliest experiences were with the Kroonstad burghers, who went down into Natal; later on he fought under me at Sanna's Post and Mostertshoek, and took part in the siege of Colonel Dalgety at Jammersbergsdrift. He had stood at my side at Thaba'Nchu and on the banks of the Zand River.
I had expected that the force at Reddersburg which lay only about four or five miles from Mostertshoek would have seen the fight in progress, or heard the cannonading, and would have hastened to the assistance of their comrades. Nevertheless, I had given orders that as soon as it was daylight, every one must do his utmost to force the English to surrender.
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