Captain Danie Theron was no longer with me, because he, being a Transvaaler, had gone with General Louis Botha.

But there was another: Gideon J.Scheepers.[42] To him I entrusted the task of reconnoitring the British, so that the carriages which were going to fetch the ammunition could do in safety what they were required to do, and I knew that he would do it.
[Footnote 37: This "granary" lay in the Ladybrand, Ficksburg and Bethlehem districts, and not only supplied the Free State, but also the greater part of the Transvaal.

If the districts of Wepener, Rouxville, Bloemfontein, and Thaba'Nchu be included, this "granary" was the source of a very large yield of corn, and there had been an especially rich harvest that year.

As the men were away on commando, the Kaffirs reaped the corn under the supervision of the Boer women; and where Kaffirs were not obtainable the women did the work with their own hands, and were assisted by their little sons and daughters.

The women had provided such a large supply, that had not the English burnt the corn by the thousand sacks, the war could have been continued.