This telegram was a thunderbolt for us. The anxiety we had felt at the General's delay had not been such as to have caused us to dream of such a catastrophe. Yet we could not doubt the news.
'Two days ago the Foreign Legion was taken prisoner by me, and their General, Villebois, was killed,' said the telegram.
That evening two reconnoitring parties were sent out; the first, from the Tabel Kop direction, came in next morning with a wounded man. The second, under Wrangel, started for the neighbourhood of Hoopstad, and could not return for several days.
On the 9th we made an inventory of the property belonging to the General, to Breda, and to the rest of our poor comrades, all of which was packed for transmission to Pretoria. The same day I received the following telegram from Colonel Gourko:
'Thomson unites with me in the expression of our profound grief at the cruel loss you have sustained in the person of Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil, a valiant soldier and distinguished leader.'
This homage from the Russian and Dutch attachés to the memory of our great compatriot touched us deeply.
On the 10th one of Ganetzki's men was killed in a reconnaissance. Comte Ganetzki had his day of Parisian celebrity in connection with La belle O----.
On the 11th I had a telegram from Wrangel:
'I reached here (Hoopstad) at 5.30 this evening, with five men. The English are at Knappiesfontein, an hour and a half's march from Boshof. There are no Burghers at Hoopstad. I shall start for Boshof to-morrow, and send you a report later on. I await your orders.'
I at once communicate this news to General P. Botha. He believes that the environs of Hoopstad are occupied by the Burghers, and that the English will march upon Smaldeel to cut off communication (April 12). Events proved him to have been entirely mistaken; but I might have talked to him for hours without altering his convictions an iota.