He could do nothing but make the attempt to get them away by the help of his burghers, and this he tried to accomplish under a fierce fire from the English.

But he would still have succeeded in the endeavour, had not unfortunately a large force of the enemy appeared on the scene, and attacked him and his hundred burghers.

I was unable to keep the English back, for both my guns had been disabled.

The nipple of the Armstrong had been blown away, and--for the first time--the lock of the Krupp had become jammed.

Had it not been for this mishap, Commandant Prinsloo would certainly have been able to remove the guns to the other side of a ridge, whither teams of our horses were already approaching.
But, as it was, he had to hurry away as fast as possible, and leave the guns behind.
When the enemy arrived they had outflanked us so far to the north, that we had nothing open to us but again to abandon our positions.