We were especially careful, as it was rumoured that the English had armed the Zulus of Natal.

Had this been true, it would have been necessary to exercise the utmost vigilance to guard against these barbarians.
Since the very beginning of our existence as a nation--in 1836--our people had been acquainted with black races, and bitter had been their experience.

All that our _voortrekkers_[14] had suffered was indelibly stamped on our memory.

We well knew what the Zulus could do under cover of darkness--their sanguinary night attacks were not easily forgotten.
Their name of "night-wolves" had been well earned.

Also we Free-Staters had endured much from the Basutos, in the wars of 1865 and 1867.
History had thus taught us to place _Brandwachten_ round our laagers at night, and to reconnoitre during the hours of darkness as well as in the day-time.
Perhaps I shall be able to give later on a fuller account in these pages--or, it may be, in another book--of the way we were accustomed to reconnoitre, and of the reasons why the scouting of the British so frequently ended in disaster.