With all their thousands the English were always outwitted by General De Wet who generally enjoyed a signal success. In anticipation, the English people would become overjoyed by the glowing reports of the English generals describing the little pen into which they had driven and confined General De Wet and his men and from which it was impossible for him to escape. But when the following day they learned that General De Wet had not only escaped but taken some prisoners with him, they would sneak home, remain quiet and anxiously await more glowing reports from the English generals. Isn't this a sure sign of degeneracy? Well I think so.
Now I will leave the Free State and stop in Cape Colony for a moment. Of course, all was peaceful there and the people were loyal British subjects, for the London Times said so. But Lord Kitchener felt that a strong British force in those parts might induce the people to be more loyal, and accordingly he kept one there. General Kritzinger with 500 or 600 men showed himself on the Boer side and at once made it very uncomfortable for the English in loyal Cape Colony. The war was over, because Lord Roberts had said so, yet here was hard fighting in Cape Colony as well as in the Free State and the Transvaal.
Now I will go into the Rustenburg district and see to what a mass of pulp the English have crushed General de la Rey and his patriots. The English had a strong force in the town of Rustenburg, and of course they must be fed, and to feed them long convoys heavily guarded were necessary. General de la Rey never denied food to the hungry in his life, but on this occasion, when a long convoy surrounded with numerous Tommies was slowly moving towards Rustenburg to feed the hungry, he could not resist the temptation of making an attack, for his own men might be hungry in a week or so. The result was that the convoy was taken, many Tommies buried on the roadside, and several of them taken prisoners, only to be disarmed and set free again. In the middle of the month General Clements, in conjunction with other generals and their commands, planned to surround and take in this old farmer, de la Rey. They planned well and their intentions were good enough, but the old farmer did not exactly like the idea and acted accordingly.
At the base of the Magaliesburg Mountains but a few miles from Hekpoort there are a long line of kopjes excellently situated for defensive work. The place is known by the Boers as Nooitgedacht, "never thought of," but I am sure that the Boers will never forget, and that General Clements will ever remember it.
General de la Rey realized that it was a very strong position and concluded to take it for his own use. He had an exceedingly strong and capable brother officer with him, in young General Beyers, who commanded the Waterburg commando. I do not believe that there was a better fighting general in the field than this brave and patriotic Beyers, and like those great generals, Celliers and Kemp, he was always ready for daring work. The English had planned to surround and take General de la Rey, but this Commandant-General of Western Transvaal resolved to take in the English. So he told General Beyers to charge them from one side and he would charge them from the other. Of course, General Clements' force was much stronger than the combined forces of General de la Rey and General Beyers, but that made no difference so far as either de la Rey or Beyers was concerned.
About the middle of December, in the early morning, General Beyers, with his 350 men, charged over a half mile of open ground and came into close fighting quarters with Clements' force. Kopje after kopje was taken, and at times the Boers and English were within two yards of each other, yet the former continued to kill and drive till they completely routed the whole force and killed and captured nearly 800 men. The Boers did not know where Clements' cannon were, or they would have captured them, too. General Beyers' attack was a little previous, because General de la Rey had not had time enough to reach the charging point before Beyers had finished his work. Clements and his whole command, together with his cannon, would have been captured without doubt, had General Beyers delayed his charge for twenty minutes. But it was dark and very difficult for two forces to work in perfect unison. At any rate General de la Rey had the position he wished, and General Clements was in rapid retreat.
All this took place in the middle of December, yet the war was over, for Lord Roberts, the Mighty, the High, the Great Financier and Politician, had so declared nearly four months previously, and Conan Doyle had countersigned his declaration.
Before the end of December and the end of the year 1900, many Free Staters with General George Brand and General Hertzog, both able and determined officers, had crossed into the Colony, and other forces had entered Griqualand West, where some convoys were taken. So there was daily fighting in Cape Colony, the Free State and the Transvaal, and the Boers were successful in all the main engagements, this, too, in the face of the fact that the war was declared at an end both by Lord Roberts and Conan Doyle.
EIGHT BOER SISTERS OF WELLINGTON, CAPE COLONY