We were deeply thankful for our success. Our only regret was that it had been impossible for us to keep more of the clothing and ammunition. But although we had not been able to retain it, neither had the enemy. It was winter, and we had managed to burn their warm clothing. The English would certainly feel the want of it; and some time must elapse before they could receive a fresh supply from Europe.
Undoubtedly Lord Roberts would be very angry with me; but I consoled myself with the thought that his anger would soon blow over. I felt sure that after calm consideration he would acknowledge that I had been altogether within my rights, and that he had been rather unwise in heaping together at one place so large a quantity of insufficiently protected stores. He should have kept his supplies at Kroonstad, or, better still, at Bloemfontein, until he had reconstructed all the railway bridges which we had blown up on the line to Pretoria. Lord Roberts had already begun to trust the Free-Staters too much; and he had forgotten that, whatever else we may have been thinking about, never for a single moment had we thought of surrendering our country.
I received a report the following day that thirty English troops had been seen eight miles to the west of Roodewal, and moving in the direction of Kroonstad. I despatched General Froneman with thirty of the burghers to fetch them in.
The next day, which was the 9th of June, I went with our prisoners to within three miles of the railway, and left them there under Veldtcornet De Vos,[51] ordering him to conduct them the rest of the way.
It was now my duty to bring away the ammunition which I had left at Roodewal and to put it into some safe place. With this in view, I sent the Commandants, when night had fallen, to Roodewal, each with two waggons, and ordered them to bring it to my farm at Roodepoort, which was three miles away from the railway bridge over the Rhenoster River.
There was a ford near my farm with sandy banks; and I told the Commandants to bury the ammunition in this sand, on the south side of the river, and to obliterate all traces of what they had done by crossing and re-crossing the spot with the waggons. I found out subsequently that the Commandants had left some of the ammunition behind at Roodewal.
Before I conclude this chapter I have to record an event which filled me with disgust.
Veldtcornet Hans Smith, of Rouxville, contrived to have a conversation with Captain Wyndham Knight, who, as I have already stated, was one of our prisoners. The Veldtcornet obtained from him a "free pass" to Kroonstad through the English lines, and also a written request to the British authorities there to allow him and twenty burghers to proceed without hindrance to Rouxville. Alas! that any Free State officer should be capable of such conduct!
Captain Wyndham Knight will be held in high esteem by all who truly serve their country, for he was a man who never deserted the cause of his fatherland, no matter what dangers he encountered.
Veldtcornet Hans Smith with his twenty burghers decamped on the night of the 10th of June, but some days had passed before I discovered the mean trick he had played.