“Oh, yes,” he said, “that had to be broken down. General De la Rey might have been coming to it some fine morning and firing at me out of it. That was why it had to be broken down.” Then he told me how glad he was to be able to go back to Klerksdorp, and he asked me to let the telegram to his wife be sent off as quickly as possible. Then, as I also wanted to send a telegram to my children in Pretoria, I told him that he must take good care of it and forward it, so that they too should be sure to get it. Yes, he said, he would not fail to do so. And he was true to his word; for when I met my children later they said they had received it. Then it grew late and it was time to return. I wished him a speedy recovery. When I came to the laager they gave me one of the waggons which they had taken from the enemy to sleep in. It was late and I had to see to our dinner. But everything seemed in such a muddle among all these menfolk; I did not know where to lay my hand upon what I wanted. There were a few Kaffirs belonging to the English there, and these had to help me with my work that evening. It seemed just as if these English Kaffirs were thinking, “How aggravating it is to have to do with the Boer women;” but that did not help them a bit--they had to work. Fortunately, there was a water dam near the waggon, and we had an abundance of water. I got dinner ready, but nobody made his appearance; it was very late when at last the men arrived. They had been keeping the prayer hour. General De la Key said, and I was very glad to hear it; for does not everything depend on the blessing of God? After dinner we went to bed; and the next morning, as it was the Sabbath, we went to the laager where service was to be held by a missionary who still remained with our commandoes. We had hoped to take part in a pleasant service, but there was a good deal of discontent among the people because Lord Methuen was to be set free, and the preacher took for a text, “That it would be displeasing unto the Lord did we allow such a man, who had dealt so cruelly with our women and children, to escape untried.” I said, “How bitter is the lot of man! We were all going to praise the Lord, and now there is so much sin among us that we should rather weep.” But it was true; it seemed almost impossible to be charitable when one thought of all that had happened to so many women and children. They made Methuen come back. General De la Rey said to the burghers, “There he is, what do you want me to do to him?” When they had all heard what General De la Rey had to say about the matter, it was agreed to leave it to the officers, and these decided to let him go free. General De la Rey came up to my waggon, and just then Tom came straight from Lord Methuen and told us how he was longing to go back, and that he was quite ill from dread at the thought of having to go on again. I had a fat chicken killed, and I took some biscuits and sent them with the chicken to the wounded lord.