It was winter, and we had managed to burn their warm clothing.

The English would certainly feel the want of it; and some time must elapse before they could receive a fresh supply from Europe.
Undoubtedly Lord Roberts would be very angry with me; but I consoled myself with the thought that his anger would soon blow over.

I felt sure that after calm consideration he would acknowledge that I had been altogether within my rights, and that he had been rather unwise in heaping together at one place so large a quantity of insufficiently protected stores.

He should have kept his supplies at Kroonstad, or, better still, at Bloemfontein, until he had reconstructed all the railway bridges which we had blown up on the line to Pretoria.

Lord Roberts had already begun to trust the Free-Staters too much; and he had forgotten that, whatever else we may have been thinking about, never for a single moment had we thought of surrendering our country.
I received a report the following day that thirty English troops had been seen eight miles to the west of Roodewal, and moving in the direction of Kroonstad.