But General Douglas had not moved very far off, and as soon as he heard that General De la Rey was in the place he came back with his troops at full speed. But General De la Rey was already far away in the distance. Just to show the “khakis” that we were not as starving as they thought, I made some bread out of the flour that my husband had brought us and sent two fresh loaves to Douglas. The English soon left to take up the pursuit again; and now the talk was that they were in their 20,000 after De la Rey, and that this time he would never manage to escape.
I said again, “Very well, you catch him if you can, but be good to him.” A few days later he was still free; the 20,000 had not been able to get hold of him.
Shortly afterwards Lord Methuen entered the village and took up his quarters. He sent to fetch my two horses, but I would not let them go. I said, “No, I will not give them up to you; I shall go and see the General himself about it.” “Very well,” was the answer, “you can see him to-morrow morning at nine o’clock; that will be the best time.” The next morning I started off, but when I got there Lord Methuen could not see me; he was too busy, they said. I felt very angry. I turned to go back, when just as I had got to my carriage, one of his orderlies brought me the message that Lord Methuen was ready to receive me, and they took me to him. He asked what he could do for me.
I answered, “For me you cannot do much, for as far as my cattle are concerned I have lost nearly everything. But I have still two horses left, and one of these belonged to my son, who is dead, and I hope that you will not take it away from me.” He gave me his hand and he said, “It shall not be taken away from you.” I thanked him and went home again. Lord Methuen remained in Lichtenburg for a week. When the place was once more empty General De la Rey came back to the village. He remained with us for four days. The day he left Lord Methuen returned.
There was a big fight that day not very far from the village. Towards nightfall the burghers beat a retreat under General Lemmer, and next morning the troops came back to Lichtenburg.
The following day the English commandant came to see me. He had a hard task before him, he told me; he had been ordered to burn my house down. I asked him where I was to go to with my children if my house were burned down.
“I shall leave one of the buildings standing for you.”
I thanked him, and I said to him, “Burn them down, burn the others down if you think it fit to do so. Even if you leave one for me, there will still be four to burn. However cruel you may seem to be, yet God is always gracious.”
He answered that it was very hard indeed for him; but that he had his orders and he must obey.
All the same, he went away without burning any of the buildings.