Our whole stock of ammunition was on the rail at Wolvehoek. I had given orders to Mr. Sarel Wessels, who had charge of the ammunition, to hold himself in readiness to proceed with it by rail, through the Transvaal, to Greylingstad as soon as he received orders to do so.
But now the ammunition could not remain there, as Sir Redvers Buller was gaining ground day by day towards the veldt on the Natal frontier and the ammunition would thus be in danger of being taken. Therefore there was nothing left for me but to get it through by way of Greylingstad Station. It had to be done, and,—I had no carriages by which I could convey it, as I had not sufficient hands to take carriages from the trucks.[41] There was only one way (course) open; the commandos from Smithfield, Wepener and Bethulie still had, contrary to the Kroonstad resolution, carriages with them at Frankfort; I hastened to that village and sent the necessary number of these carriages under a strong escort, to fetch the ammunition from Greylingstad.
In order to do this responsible work I required a man whom I could trust. Captain Danie Theron was no longer with me, because he, being a Transvaaler, had gone with General Louis Botha. But there was another: Gideon J. Scheepers.[42] To him I entrusted the task of reconnoitring the British, so that the carriages which were going to fetch the ammunition could do in safety what they were required to do, and I knew that he would do it.
CHAPTER XIII
Our Position at the End of May, 1900
Once more it became necessary that the seat of Government should be changed, and towards the latter part of May our administrative headquarters were established at a place between Frankfort and Heilbron. The object of our Government in choosing this position was to be able to keep up telegraphic communication with the Transvaal. And their choice was soon to be justified, for after Johannesburg had been taken on May 31st and Pretoria on July 5th, the only telegraphic connexion between the Free State and the South African Republic was viâ Frankfort, Greylingstad and Middlesburg. The terminus, at the Transvaal end, was situated not far from Pretoria.
But, for the moment, it looked as if fortune were again going to smile on us, after our long spell of ill luck. On May the 31st Lindley and its garrison of Yeomanry fell into the hands of General Piet de Wet. The Yeomanry lost heavily, and five hundred of them, including, as I was told, several noblemen, were taken prisoner. These were the last prisoners of war that we were able to send into the South African Republic. Soon afterwards, when Pretoria was on the point of falling into the enemy's hands, the prisoners there had to be sent further east, but—owing either to the stupidity of the Transvaal Government, or to the treachery of the guards—a great many of them were left behind for Lord Roberts to release and re-arm against us. Our burghers grumbled much at this, and blamed the negligence of the Transvaalers.
Before we had had time to get the captured Yeomanry through into the Transvaal, Sir Redvers Buller had forced his way over the Natal frontier, crossing the Drakensberg between Botha's Pass and Laing's Nek. This event, which happened on June the 17th, caused yet another panic among our commandos.