Moreover, with the reinforcements I had received, I had about sixteen hundred men under me, and they would have been very useful in holding back the enemy, until Cronje had made his escape.
No words can describe my feelings when I saw that Cronje had surrendered, and noticed the result which this had on the burghers.
Depression and discouragement were written on every face.

The effects of this blow, it is not too much to say, made themselves apparent to the very end of the war.
[Footnote 22: "How is it with you ?"] [Footnote 23: Eleven or twelve days after, Commandant Spruit was again with us.

When he appeared, he seemed to us like one risen from the dead.
We all rejoiced, not only because he was a God-fearing man, but also because he was of a lovable disposition.

I heard from his own mouth how he had escaped.

He told me that the day after his capture, he was sent, under a strong escort, from Lord Roberts' Headquarters to the railway station at Modder River, and that he started from there, with a guard of six men on his road to Cape Town.