I left General Buller and his army at Ladysmith on February 28th. Now he appears on the scene again. He had a most difficult task to fight his way through the mountains of Natal and cross into the Transvaal, but at last he had succeeded, and was on his way to join the army opposed to General Botha. It was about the middle of August that General Buller arrived. The entire British force now to attack the Boer forces was about 65,000 strong, while General Botha had less than 7,000 men. He did not have hills and mountains, as in Natal, but, instead, open, rolling prairies. It looked as if the English would ride right over us and kill or capture our whole force, but they didn't. Lord Roberts sent about 600 women and children in open coal trucks to Belfast when it was midwinter and so cold that no one could keep warm. He did this, thinking that the Boers, rather than see their women and children suffer, and probably die, would come in and surrender. He was fooled, however, for General Botha put them all on the train and sent them to Barberton, where it was warm and where all had friends. Lord Roberts likes to fight women and children and takes as much pleasure in seeing them suffer as does Lord Kitchener. After General Buller arrived and took command, there was fighting daily on some part of the line for nine days before the final effort was made on the 27th of August. In the centre of our line were seventy-two of the Johannesburg police, who were on the ridge between Belfast and Dalmanutha. They had built for themselves stone breastworks about two feet high, but a shell would easily destroy any of them. On the night of the 26th, General Buller changed his plans and concentrated his force on the centre, instead of on our left flank, and at six o'clock of the morning of the 27th he began with thirty-six guns to bombard the seventy-two Johannesburg police. As the railway line had been left in good order by General Botha's instructions, two huge siege guns came up on some flat cars. When they were fired, the whole earth seemed to tremble and the explosion of the shell was fairly deafening, yet they did no damage. I could see every one of the seventy-two police plainly, for I was with a Long Tom on a high point to their left. For seven hours without intermission, heavy lyddite shells were bursting on the ground about them and a dozen or so shrapnel were bursting over their heads at the same time. When at about two o'clock in the afternoon I saw a long line of cavalry put in readiness to charge their position, I felt sure that there was not one of them alive, for it did not seem possible for them with their little protection to escape.