I now left them and rode on to Koorn Spruit, not knowing that General Broadwood had left Thaba'Nchu after nightfall and had proceeded to the Water Works.

My advance was made as quietly as possible, and as soon as we reached Koorn Spruit I hid my burghers in the ravine, placing some to the right and some to the left of the drift[31] on the road from Thaba'Nchu and Sanna's Post to Bloemfontein.
As soon as it became light enough to see anything we discovered that just above the spruit[32] stood a waggon, with some Kaffirs and a number of sheep and cattle beside it.

The Kaffirs told us that the waggon belonged to one of the "hands-uppers" from Thaba'Nchu, and that they had been ordered to get it down to Bloemfontein as quickly as possible and to sell it to the English.

The owner of the sheep and of the cattle, they said, was with General Broadwood, whose troops had just arrived at Sanna's Post.
The light grew brighter, and there, three thousand paces from us, was Broadwood's huge force.
I had only three hundred and fifty men with me; the other generals, to the east of the Modder River, had not more than eleven hundred and fifty between them.
The numbers against us were overwhelming, but I resolved to stand my ground; and, fortunately, the positions which I had chosen were much to our advantage--there would be no difficulty in concealing my burghers and their horses.
I ordered that every one should still remain hidden, even when our party to the east of the Modder River began to shoot, and that not a round was to be fired until I gave the command.
General Broadwood was preparing to strike camp.

It was then that I told my men to allow the British troops to get to close quarters and "hands-up" them, without wasting a single bullet.
Then our guns began to fire.
The result was a scene of confusion.