July 1.—­Sunday.—­We marched into camp before dawn blear-eyed and hungry, to find to our disgust that there was no hurry after all.  It seems an order had been received for the whole Battery to march away this morning, to join some column or other, so they sent a messenger to recall us.  Meanwhile a countermanding order came to “Stand fast.”  So here I am, at 8 A.M., sitting against my harness in the blessed sunlight, warm, fed, sleepy, and rather irritated.  What is going to happen I don’t know.  It’s no use writing the rumours.

(Later.)—­A sudden order to harness up.  Did so, and were all ready, when we were told to take it off again.  It seems General Clements has come up near here with a division, and they want to finish off De Wet at once.  A quiet day.  I foraged in the town in the afternoon, but got nothing, though I heard of mealy biscuits at one cottage.

Later on we found a cottage kept by an Englishwoman, who gave us delicious tea at 6d. a cup, and again in the evening porridge at 6d. a plate.  There was a number of mixed soldiers in there, all packed round the room, which was dark and smoky, and full also of squalling children.  The way she kept her temper and fed us was wonderful.  It is safe to say that nowadays one can always eat any amount at any time of day.  The service biscuit is the best of its kind, I daresay, but not very satisfying, and meat is not plentiful.  We have never yet been on full rations.  Five is the full number of biscuits.  We generally get three or four.  Sometimes the meat-ration is a “Maconochie,” which is a tin of preserved meat and vegetables of a very juicy and fatty nature, most fascinating when you first know it, but apt to grow tinny and chemical to the palate.

CHAPTER VI.

BETHLEHEM.

July 2.—­Reveille 5 A.M.  Harnessed up, and afterwards marched out and joined a column of troops under General Paget.  We have with us some Yorkshire Light Infantry, Munster Fusiliers, Yeomanry, Bushmen, and the 38th Field Battery.  Where we are going we don’t know, but I suppose after De Wet.[A]

[Footnote A:  Without knowing it at the time, we were joining in General Hunter’s big enveloping movement, by which all the scattered commandos in this part of the Free State were to be driven into the mountains on the Basuto border and there surrounded.  Paget’s brigade (the 20th) was part of the cordon, which was gradually drawn closer by the concentric marches of columns under him, and General Clements, Rundle, Boyes, Bruce Hamilton, and Hunter himself.  The climax was the surrender of about 5000 Boers under Prinsloo at Fouriesberg on July 29, a success much impaired by the escape of De Wet from the fast-closing trap.  For the sake of clearness I append this note; but I leave my diary as I wrote it, when our knowledge of events rarely went beyond a foggy speculation.]

(8.30 A.M.)—­We have marched for about two hours to the top of a range of hills which surrounds the town; there is firing on the right and left, and the Infantry are advancing in extended order.  Our right section has just gone into action.  A big drove of wild-looking Boer ponies has come stampeding up to the column with some of our mounted men vainly trying to corner them.