To slaughter sheep and cook
porridge did not take long; hearty is the only word to describe the meal
we made. Then we moved round and joined Liebenberg, who, with six
hundred men, had just retaken Klerksdorp without firing a shot. But
then, the place was garrisoned by only forty English, and resistance
would have been of no avail.
We hung about the neighbourhood of Potchefstroom for about two weeks,
anxiously waiting for the word to be given to attack the town, but
Liebenberg confined his tactics to making an appearance in sight of the
town and retreating as soon as the enemy came out to give battle. This
kept the enemy on the _qui vive_, it is true, but it also tired out our
horses, and we soon grew weary of it. We had several lively little
skirmishes, however. One day about forty of us were detached to go and
bombard a British gun which stood on the other side of the town, whilst
the rest of our commando approached the town on this side. We were
sitting down quite comfortably under a tree below our gun, eating bread
and dripping, listening to the duel and smiling at the high aim of the
British gunners, when the look-out shouted--"Here's the enemy behind
us!"
The gun was rapidly limbered up and we rode to the top of the hill.
Across the valley about a hundred horsemen were stealthily stealing up
Vaal Kop, evidently with the intention of taking us in the rear.
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