The English had a strong fort on the north, near the place where Commandant De Vos was stationed. In order to take this schanze one would have been obliged to cross 200 metres of open ground. Moreover, it was so placed that it was the only part of the English possession which De Vos's guns commanded. Accordingly, when the sun had gone down, I sent orders to him that he was to storm this schanze before daybreak on the following morning.
My orders were duly carried out.
Commandant De Vos crept stealthily up to the fort, and was not observed by the enemy until he was close to them. They then fired fiercely on him, killing two of his burghers, but our men would not be denied; they leapt over the schanze and compelled the enemy to surrender. The English losses on this occasion were six killed, a few wounded, and about thirty taken prisoner.
While this was going on, Veldtcornet Wessels, in accordance with orders which I had given him the previous evening, had taken possession of the river bank exactly opposite to the town, which he was now preparing to storm.
The English had only a few schanzes to the west of him, and these were not more than two hundred paces off.
I had been to the laager at "Prospect" the night before, with the intention of returning so as to be in time for the storming of the town. I had arranged to go there very early in the morning, because my journey could be accomplished with much less risk if carried out in the dark. Unfortunately, however, daylight overtook me when I had got no further than the Kaffir location, and I had to race from there, over country where I had no sort of cover, to the ravine near the town. From this ravine to where Veldtcornet Wessels was waiting for me on the river bank, I rode in comparative safety.
The reader can easily imagine how delighted I was to meet again the Dewetsdorp folk, to whom I was so well known. But I could not show myself too much. That would not have been safe. After I had visited three houses—those of the Schoolmaster, Mr. Otto, of Mr. Jacobus Roos, and of old Mr. H. Van der Schijf—and had partaken in each of a cup of coffee, I hurried off to my burghers.
The remaining English schanzes had been so well constructed that their occupants could still offer a very stubborn resistance, and they did so. It was not until about three o'clock on the afternoon of the 23rd of November that we saw the white flag go up, and knew that the victory was ours.
We took four hundred and eight prisoners, amongst whom were Major Massey and seven other officers. We also took fifty Kaffirs. Two Armstrong guns with more than three hundred rounds of ammunition, some waggons, horses and mules, and a great quantity of Lee-Metford cartridges also fell into our hands.
We never knew the exact numbers of the English dead and wounded, but they must have lost something between seventy and one hundred men.