"And are you going to live in this house, master?"
"Yes, it has been arranged so, Hans; and that you shall take the place of the man we tied up, that is, you will have charge of the stables; and Peter will be there too, unless he makes up his mind to join his tribe again."
"I shall not do that, baas, as long as you will keep me. Some day I will go down and buy a wife, and build a little house near here. I have been so long in towns that I do not want to be a wild fellow again, and live in village kraals, and eat mealies, and have nothing to do but to walk about and carry a gun on my shoulder. A stupid life that; much rather live with baas."
The army remained but two days at Johannesburg, when, supplies having arrived, on the 3d of June, an advance was made to Leeuwkop, a distance of twelve miles. On the morning after the arrival at Johannesburg, Major Weston, with two hundred Lancers, had started to endeavour to damage the line of railway between Pretoria and Komati Poort, so as to cut off the retreat of the Boers, but they came across a strong body of the enemy, and were forced to retire, after having suffered nineteen casualties. French, with a portion of the cavalry, started on the 2nd, made a wide sweep round to the west of Pretoria, and after repulsing an attack by a strong force, established himself to the north of the town. On the 4th, the main army advanced. The Boers for a short time held the river called Six Miles Spruit, but they were soon driven off. Some guns opened to check the pursuit, but our batteries were brought up, and speedily silenced them.
The Boers, however, menaced the flank as it advanced; and Ian Hamilton's Division, which was marching to the left of the main body, moved against them, and they fell back to Pretoria. As the army approached the town, a heavy rifle-fire was for a time opened from a ridge on which stood the great southern fort. But as the latter remained silent, it was evident that its guns had been already withdrawn, and that the opposing force was but a rear-guard posted to check our advance while the town was evacuated. This and the field-guns that supported it were soon driven off. Pole-Carew's Division, which had now come up, swept over the slopes; the forts were found to be abandoned, and the goal of the long march lay defenceless before them. Here a halt was made for the night.
After dusk, an officer with a flag of truce was sent in from the Mounted Infantry, who had taken up their post within a mile of the town, to demand its surrender. No reply was given; but at ten in the evening, the military secretary to Commandant-general Botha, with another general, brought in a letter proposing an armistice. Lord Roberts answered that surrender must be unconditional, and that an answer must be sent in before five in the morning, as the troops had been ordered to advance at daybreak. Before the time named, on the 5th of June, Botha sent in to say that he was not prepared to defend the place farther, and that he entrusted the women, children, and property to our protection. The troops at once moved up close to the town, and at three o'clock Lord Roberts arrived at the head of two divisions.
The British flag was hoisted, and the troops marched past. The general established his head-quarters at the British Agency. The 15th Brigade was told off to garrison the town, Major-general Maxwell being appointed military governor. A hundred and fifty-eight officers and over three thousand men were found in the prisons, but nine hundred had been carried off by the Boers in their retreat. Orders were given that these released prisoners should at once be reclothed and armed, and sent down to form part of the force guarding the line of railway.
Mr. Kruger had fled before the arrival of the British army, and showed, by leaving his wife behind him, as also did General Botha, that he had no belief whatever in the atrocious calumnies the former had invented regarding the conduct of our troops. Before leaving, Kruger carried off the money in the banks, and the state treasure, and did not even pay the officials the salaries due to them. After all his boasting, that if the British ever entered Pretoria they would find him sitting in front of his house, his despicable conduct when danger approached was only what was to be expected from a man whose folly and ambition had brought ruin on the people over whom he ruled, and who had trusted him only too blindly.