I urged the council of war at Vaal River to allow me to blow up certain mines in Johannesburg, but it was no use talking, not one of them would agree to it. They did not believe in the destruction of property. It was the mines of the very men who, with Chamberlain, Milner and Rhodes, had labored so hard to bring on the war, that I was so anxious to blow up, and I regret to this day that we did not destroy them. All the immense stores of provisions in Johannesburg and Pretoria I wished so badly to destroy, that I fairly begged for permission to do it, but all in vain. With De Wet and 10,000 men behind Roberts, and on his line of communications, and all provisions in Johannesburg and Pretoria destroyed, Lord Roberts would have been a defeated man, for the reason that he had no food for his army. As it was, his men came nearly starving to death on half rations. I can never forgive the Boer generals for leaving such quantities of good supplies for the British. The railway and telegraph lines between the Vaal River and Pretoria should have been completely destroyed, yet General Botha gave me strict orders not to disturb either. We were simply playing into the hands of the English, and doing more for them than they could possibly do for themselves. On the fifth of June we had to leave Pretoria, and, strange to say, we left the Pietersburg and Delagoa railway lines, all in good order with plenty of engines and cars for immediate use by the English. Why General Botha insisted on leaving all these lines intact, and well equipped for the English, I cannot understand. There was not a burgher in the field, that did not realize that the destruction of all railway facilities was a matter of grave importance. Much as I admire General Botha, not only as a brave man, but as a first-class fighter and an able general, I must condemn him for his opposition to the destruction of the enemy's communications, and for his failure to destroy the enemy's supply stores. General De Wet had done his work so well that General Roberts was cut off from all communications with the Colony, and there was no food to be had in the country, except in the Boer supply stores. [Illustration: KOOTIE HEYSTEK, A BOER BELLE, OF PRETORIA] CHAPTER XIII. LORD ROBERTS BREAKS HIS PLEDGE MADE IN PROCLAMATION--BOERS IN GREAT DISORDER ON LEAVING PRETORIA--MAKE GRAND STAND AT DONKERHOEK--GENERAL BULLER ARRIVES IN TRANSVAAL--BATTLE OF DALMANUTHA. After the occupation of Pretoria, Lord Roberts issued his usual proclamation, to induce the burghers to lay down their arms. They were not to be sent away, their property was not to be molested, and they were to be allowed to peacefully occupy their farms. Thousands of the burghers, really believing that the war was over, took advantage of this proclamation and surrendered their rifles. Almost the entire Rustenburg district surrendered, and hundreds of men of the other districts did likewise.