Now the road from Venterskroon passed between two mountain chains to the north of Vanvurenskloof; and I feared that the English would block the way there. I had to avoid this at all costs, but I had hardly a man available for the purpose. The greater part of my burghers were still to the south-east and south-west of the Vaal River.
There was nothing left for me to do except to take the burghers who remained with me, and, whilst the laager followed us as quickly as possible, to advance and prevent the enemy from occupying the kloof. This I did, and took a part of my men to Vanvurenskloof, whilst I sent another body of burghers to Zandnek.
Everything went smoothly. The enemy did not appear and the laager escaped without let or hindrance—and so we camped at Vanvurenskloof.
I must have misled the English, for they certainly would have thought that I would come out by the road near Roodekraal. But I cannot understand why the force in our rear, which had arrived at Parijs the previous evening, remained there overnight, nor why, when they did move on the following morning, they marched to Lindequesdrift, eight miles up the Vaal River, and not, as might well have been expected, to Vanvurenskloof.
The burghers whom I sent in the direction of Roodekraal had a fight with the enemy at Tijgerfontein. A heavy bombardment took place; and my men told me afterwards that the baboons, of which there were a large number in these mountains, sprang from cliff to cliff screaming with fright—poor creatures—as the rocks were split on every side by the lyddite shells.
The burghers came to close quarters with the enemy, and a fierce engagement with small arms took place.
It appeared later that the enemy's casualties amounted to more than a hundred dead and wounded. Our loss was only two men.
As I have already stated, we camped at Vanvurenskloof. The next morning, while we were still there, we were surprised by the enemy—an unpleasant thing for men with empty stomachs.
I did not receive any report from my scouts[65] until the English were not more than three thousand paces from us, and had already opened fire on the laager, not only with their guns, but also with their rifles. We at once took the best positions we could find; and meanwhile the waggons got away as quickly as possible. They succeeded in getting over the first ridge, and thus gained a certain amount of shelter, whilst we kept the English busy.
The enemy approached nearer and nearer to us with overpowering forces. Then they charged, and I saw man after man fall, struck down by our merciless fire. We were quite unable to hold the enemy back, and so we had to leave our positions, having lost one dead and one wounded.