I will now return to the Irish boys whom I left at Smaldeel station, thirty miles north of Brandfort in the Free State. During the few days we spent here, every preparation was made for hot, lively work, for we knew that it was near the time when orders would come to advance and meet Lord Roberts and his great army of 90,000 men, with cannon in proportion. On the afternoon of May 1st, 1900, we received instructions to proceed to Brandfort and join with General de la Rey, so, having packed all tents, baggage, etc., in a freight car--which we scarcely ever expected to see again,--we started on our way, and never a happier or more delighted lot of boys went to a holiday picnic than those that went to face English bullets and shells. It was a long, cold ride, and late in the afternoon of the following day we were camped in the bush on the bank of the little creek at Brandfort. Rumors were soon going the rounds that the British were near at hand, but it was so dark that we could not have seen them had they been only twenty feet away. So we decided to go to sleep and get up before daylight in the morning, that we might be ready to meet trouble. In the early morning we learned that the English had slept in the bush on the same creek, a few miles below us, and as soon as the sun came up we saw them. There before us was Roberts with his 90,000 men, by far the largest army that any of us had ever seen, and, as far as we knew, there was to oppose him a mouthful of Irishmen at Brandfort. The Russian attache, Colonel Gourko, the French attache, Captain Demange, and the American attache, Captain Carl Reichmann, were there too. I think everyone of them came near being captured, for they were a plucky lot of fellows and were determined to see how the English would act in the face of a handful of Irishmen. I don't know how the spectacle struck the attaches, but the English reminded me of a lot of ants whose routine of action had been disturbed by some mischievous boy, for they seemed to be moving aimlessly in all directions. I really believe that Roberts and his 90,000 men were afraid that a few hundred Boers might lay an ambush for them at Brandfort. This idea is preposterous, but I tell you that Englishmen are terribly afraid of Boers, and when they see one, that one will appear as many as at least ten to them. South of Brandfort about three miles, there is a line of kopjes running east and west. Several columns of cavalry were moving south of them and parallel to them. It was plain that they intended to attack that line of kopjes. There were no Boers in them at the time, but the English imagined they were full of them. Early in the morning the Heidelburg Commando, about 600 strong, joined with us at the tall hill by Brandfort. All then went at full speed to reach the kopjes before the English. We barely succeeded, for no sooner had we dismounted than the English began with both cannon and rifle to make it warm for us.