Koffiefontein to Edenberg. I then divided my burghers into two parties;
the first, consisting of two hundred men with the Krupp gun, I ordered
to proceed with the convoy; the second, consisting of a hundred and
fifty men with the Maxim-Nordenfeldt, I took under my own command, and
set out with them in the direction of Paardenberg's Drift.

My spies had informed me that there were some fifty or sixty English
troops posted about eight miles from the spot where we had captured the
convoy. We made our way towards them, and when we were at a distance of
about three thousand yards, I sent a little note to their officer,
asking him to surrender. It was impossible for his troops to escape, for
they found themselves threatened on three sides.

The sun had just gone down when my despatch-rider reached the English
camp; and the officer in command was not long in sending him his reply,
accompanied by an orderly.

"Are you General De Wet?" the orderly asked me.

"I am," replied I.

"My officer in command," he said in a polite but determined voice,
"wishes me to tell you that we are a good hundred men strong, that we
are well provided with food and ammunition, and that we hold a strong
position in some houses and kraals. Every moment we are expecting ten
thousand men from Belmont, and we are waiting here with the sole purpose
of conducting them to Lord Roberts."

I allowed him to speak without interrupting him; but when he had
finished, I answered him in quite as determined a voice as he had used