The five officers who joined us were Lieut. Willett, of our regiment, and Lieuts. Greenwell and Veasey of the Bedfords, 2nd Lieut. Lord Murray of the Camerons, and Lieut. Henderson of the City Imperial Volunteers. The services of Sergeant Flynn and Drummer Briggs were also lent to us to facilitate issuing orders and carrying messages.
The first thing to do was to have a proper roll call of the commandos; we had had no opportunity before then of doing this, although the adjutants of each commando had prepared rolls of their men, so a careful muster was taken by the officers, the numbers of the prisoners proving to be as follows:—
| Commandant Jonker | . . . 239 burghers. |
| Commandant Crowther | . . . 379 burghers. |
| Commandant Joubert | . . . 190 burghers. |
| Commandant Du Plooy | . . . 227 burghers. |
| Commandant Potgieter | . . . 512 burghers. |
To these had to be added four men who were sent down by the Provost Marshal, and seven had to be deducted, who were admitted to hospital in the town, making a net total of 1,544.
After the roll call was concluded the burghers were directed to give up all property belonging to the Free State or to the British Government, and this order resulted in a most miscellaneous collection of articles being made, comprising tents, waterproof sheets, entrenching tools, bayonets, military clothing of all kinds which had been looted from the Derby Militia, and from the trains which had been held up and wrecked by De Wet; saddlery and telescopes taken from the Yeomanry who surrendered at Lindley; and hundreds of smaller articles, Gladstone bags, tin uniform cases, water bottles, haversacks, ration baskets, signalling panniers, books, canteens and equipment, which had all at one time belonged to the Derby Militia.
There was very little property belonging to the Orange Free State, with the exception of a few tents and some waterproof sheets; we were careful not to receive anything which might be considered as the private property of the burghers, and the whole day long numbers of these simple minded men came to us, bringing all sorts of articles, and asking if they could retain them.
In any case each Boer was allowed to keep a blanket for himself and one for his horse, a water bottle and a waterproof sheet; and we did not interfere with the clothing they were wearing, much of which was our khaki serge, with many overcoats and khaki warm coats.
Some of the wagons, which were covered in and suitable for the purpose, were sent over to the hospital to assist in carrying the sick and wounded.
During the afternoon the commandants were received by General Hunter at his quarters in the town, where they drank coffee, and, with the assistance of an interpreter, made the polite and cautious remarks usual on such occasions.