In reference to this telegram, Scheepers said:-- "Lieutenant Grant, 12th Lancers, as far as I have seen, has done the bravest deed ever done by a British officer. It was south-east of Oudtshoorn, along the Commanassie River, after having wounded two and captured eight of my men, as he was crossing the river I came upon him with four men. I shouted to him, 'Hands up!' He was in the water on the point of crossing the river, and as I shouted to him 'Hands up!' he paid no attention. When I shouted to him a second time, 'Surrender, or I'll shoot you down,' the four men with me pointed their guns at him, when he dropped his gun and revolver and surrendered. The men with me wanted to shoot him down, as he had wounded two of my men; I ordered them not to do so. I ultimately captured him and took him to a house and gave him a bed, and liberated him." He also claimed that the one thousand three hundred prisoners he had taken had been treated well. Scheepers was found guilty, after five days' trial, on all charges except the one of murder mentioned, and sentenced to death. The sentence was confirmed by Lord Kitchener about a fortnight later, on January 14, 1902, and the prisoner was shot at Graaff Reinet on January 18, 1902. Colonels Crabbe and Kavanagh hunted from Oudtshoorn to the north-west Smuts', Bonwer's, and Pyper's rovers. Colonels Haig and Lukin engaged in an animated chase, here, there, and everywhere, after Van der Venter and his band of marauders, and at last the vigilant Lukin, on the 21st of October, had the happiness of surprising the quarry six miles south-west of New Bethesda. Fourteen prisoners were taken, and one Boer lost his life in the affray. The rest of the party, as they escaped westward on the 24th, were engaged by Colonel Scobell, who had been chasing Smuts out of the Aberdeen district. The month ended with combined operations for purging the place of the commandos of Maritz, Smit, and Theron, and driving these undesirable elements into the remote districts beyond Calvinia. In these lively proceedings Colonels Capper and Wyndham and Captain Wormald were engaged, and by the end of October they had reached the line Lambert's Bay, Clanwilliam.