The burghers, it may be added, were not bitter enemies of the British soldiers, and upon hundreds of occasions they displayed the most friendly feeling toward members of the Imperial forces.

The Boer respected the British soldier's ability, but the same respect was not vouchsafed to the British officer, and it was not unreasonable that a burgher should form such an opinion of the leaders of his enemy, for the mistakes of many of the British officers were so frequent and costly that the most unmilitary man could easily discern them.

On that account the Boers' respect for the British soldier was not without its mixture of pity.
There are those who will assert that there was no goodness in the Boers and that they conducted the war unfairly, but I shall make no attempt to deny any of the statements on those subjects.

My sympathies were with the Boers, but they were not so strong that I should tell untruths in order to whiten the Boer character.

There were thieves among them--I had a horse and a pair of field-glasses stolen from me on my first journey to the front--but that does not prove that all the Boers were wicked.