The English made all possible haste to advance and attack De Wet and if possible hold him engaged until their other commands should come. As all were on the lookout for him, of course the different commands would lose no time in reaching the scene of action. The English completely abandoned the crossing in front of De Wet and made a hurried advance on the detachment. When 1200 yards away the detachment opened fire on the English and a short skirmish took place. At this moment De Wet rushed to the river, crossed it and put his men in fighting order to protect the detachment which he expected every moment. After firing a few shots, the detachment dropped behind the hill from which they had been firing, mounted their horses, put in the spurs and soon joined the wily De Wet across the river. Again the English were easily outwitted and De Wet was once more in the Free State. He had to fight his way all through the Free State, but the English were afraid of him, and he reached his destination at Heilbron without loss of time.
He had now made a round trip of about a thousand miles, had had many skirmishes, successfully fought two battles and landed home with but little loss. His trip had a great moral effect on the English army, the people of Cape Colony and Cape Town. The news of his invasion of Cape Colony had spread all over South Africa and had reached London. The English element in Cape Town and throughout the colony were crazy with fright, for all men were sure that De Wet would lay waste the country as the English had the Transvaal and Free State. The English forces in the Colony were concentrated that they might make a successful defense when De Wet should attack.
Lord Kitchener and his numerous force of cricketers felt the cold chill running down their backs and were at their wit's end to make out a report that would so mislead the English papers that they would not express any regret at having presented Lord Roberts with $500,000 and an earldom for his proclamations, and for declaring that the war was at an end. All were so undone and such nervous wrecks that they did not remember that Conan Doyle had also declared that the war was over.
I think General De Wet made a great mistake in returning to the Free State so soon. With his energy, his ability, his prestige and men he should have gone to the De Aar Junction, destroyed that most important railway point and then followed the railway towards Cape Town, destroying it and all the bridges on his way. Such were the conditions in Cape Town at the time that had he gone ahead and penetrated as far as the Paarl, it is safe to conclude that he would have received at least 15,000 recruits, and these Colonial Boers cannot be surpassed for fighting qualities. Having done this, before retracing his steps he would have had an army 20,000 strong before he reached the Orange River. I always felt that the war should have been carried into Cape Colony and there finished, for the people were ripe for rebellion, and had Generals Botha, De Wet and de la Rey gone there with their commands it is certain that they would have risen, as one, and all joined the Boers. This would have meant the defeat and downfall of the English army and the independence of the Africander race throughout South Africa. But they didn't go there, and the Africander race has yet to free itself.
During this month of February neither General de la Rey nor the English did anything worth recording. The English remained close in their forts, and General de la Rey was satisfied to rest his men and give his horses a chance to recuperate and fatten up.
HORSES, MULES AND MEN ARRIVE FROM AMERICA—THE AUTHOR AND MAJOR PRETORIUS MAKE A LONG RIDE WITH DESPATCHES—AN EXCITING TRIP.
Now I come to the month of March, during which but little was done except in Cape Colony and de la Rey's district of the Western Transvaal. General Louis Botha was at Ermelo and the various commands were in their respective districts on the high veldt. The English did not come out because enough mules and horses had not yet arrived from America.
We all had a quiet but good time lying in laager, smoking our pipes and growing fat on mealie pap (ordinary corn meal mush) and fresh beef. In the Free State General De Wet had a few little skirmishes and a few of his commandos had a brush with the enemy, but little or no damage was done. It seemed that the peace confab between Lord Kitchener and General Botha in the latter part of February had a soothing and quieting effect on everybody. In Cape Colony, General Kritsinger, Commandants Malan, Fouche, Hertzog and George Brand were going at a lively pace in many of the districts. They seemed to continue to have their own way and keep the English on the constant jump, and captured many prisoners. All of them supplied themselves and men with at least two horses each, and the English were kind enough to give them plenty of ammunition. So the Boers in Cape Colony had no reason to complain. In the western division of the Transvaal, General de la Rey's commandos had some pretty hard fights. The general attacked Lichtenburg and gave the English a good pounding. Had not reinforcements arrived just in time, he would have had the town and the English garrison. But as it was, he was forced to retire. One of his commandos near Klerksdorp attacked the English and forced them to retire. Near Kaffir Kraal General de la Rey had another fight, and although the English suffered severely, they were too many for him and captured his guns. The lieutenant in charge of the artillery was not to blame, however, for he was deceived by one of those Anglo-Africans who came to him and told him that General de la Rey wished the guns. Having obeyed he found himself and guns in the hands of the English. As this Anglo-African was evidently a burgher, the lieutenant thought nothing about it further than to obey instructions. Damn all Anglos, whether Americans, Boers, German, French or whatever their nationality.