Moreover, I deemed it a sacred privilege to be, in my capacity as a minister of God's word, with my people in the time of their greatest trouble; to bind up the broken-hearted, to encourage the despondent, to comfort the suffering—especially the much-suffering women, our heroines—to bring the word of God to them who would otherwise have been deprived of it, and to point the dying to the Cross. I heard from time to time that my work had not been without blessing, and it was always a source of joy and gratitude to me to know that there were other brothers in Christ who were also in the field; while it pained me to know that others had been prevented by unavoidable circumstances from labouring with the small band in the field.
Once more, there is no sense of regret in my mind. I thank God that He enabled me to remain on commando until the end; and with regard to the charge flung at the heads of the leaders, that instead of leading they had misled the people, I can say this, that never, not even in the darkest hours, could I know what might happen, nor what God had destined for our people—and this, too, was always clear to me, that if every cause had been abandoned when it was apparently hopeless, then some of the most glorious victories that the world has seen would never have been won.
With the deepest gratitude to God for His protection in the many dangers of the war, I now lay down my pen.
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Footnotes
[1]: Chain to which the yokes are attached.
[2]: How I was released will be described later.
[3]: This was the order. When General de Wet passed through Slabbert's Nek, the following arrangement was decided on: General de Wet was to proceed on the 15th to Heilbron, and General Roux the day after to the south of the State. It was further arranged that General Marthinus Prinsloo should remain in command of a small body of men stationed on the Roodebergen from Commando Nek to Nauwpoort in order to guard the grain districts. General Crowther had on the same day as General Roux to go to Witkop and stay there until he could join General Hattingh, under whom he was then to operate in the districts of Vrede and Harrismith. The unfortunate spirit, however, which, immediately after the departure of the President, arose among the officers at Nauwpoort upset all these arrangements.
[4]: A week later, when the two men met each other again, General Fourie declared that he had sent someone to tell General de Villiers that he was going forward, and that therefore the fault did not lie with him. Speaking to General Fourie, subsequently, I learned that the messenger was sent early in the evening; and I remember that the man did come to us. But the message he brought was a request that General de Villiers should act in accordance with the agreement. This person remained behind, and it may be that he purposely delivered a wrong message in order to induce General de Villiers and his burghers to remain there, and thus swell the numbers of those remaining behind.
[5]: So the ridge was named near Zwartlapberg ever since the famous passage of the 14th December 1900. Sprinkhaans Nek proper lies somewhat farther north.