General De Wet and some of his commandants had a few small fights in the Free State, but none of any importance. General Smuts was creating considerable excitement in Cape Colony, and some of the commandants were doing likewise. One of Smuts' commandos captured about 200 men in one fight. The English press claim that these men deliberately refused to fight, and laid down their arms on a preconcerted agreement. I do not know how much truth there is in this, but I do know that the Tommies were getting tired of being shot down. Many hundreds of prisoners taken on the high veldt would fairly beg not to be released, and said they would be glad to live on mush and meat. They were so utterly disgusted with the war that many, after being released, would follow up the Boer commandos, and then beg not to be sent away. Sometimes they had to be sent in with an escort. We could have put many in the bush veldt where there was food, but had any of them died of sickness, the English would have sent the news broadcast that they had been murdered. Evidently they preferred to be so murdered by the Boers rather than be actually murdered by their incompetent English officers. With few exceptions, certain it is that the British soldier had but little respect for the British officer. Many times Lord Kitchener sent his cablegrams charging the Boers with maltreating or murdering some of the English prisoners, and after peace was made some British officers took pleasure in throwing this libellous charge into my face. In every instance I replied "Yes, you make this charge against the Boers; but call up some of the men who were taken prisoners at the same time, and let me hear what they have to say about it." Not one of them would think of doing this, because they said that an English officer's word was as good as his bond. No English officer would dare to submit the case to such a test, because he knows that the first man questioned would prove him a liar. I came near getting into trouble with some of them on this subject, for at times my retorts were very warm and to the point, considering that I had just surrendered my rifle, and was being closely watched by a lot of hounds. The very fact that every one took particular pains to bring up this subject was proof in itself that they were lying, and trying to find some one who might say that possibly he had seen one man unfairly shot. I have seen and talked with hundreds of English prisoners, but never heard one make any such a charge. In fact, everyone will tell you that the Boers treated him as a soldier and a man, wounded or not wounded. In other parts of the land, there was no fighting of any consequence.