The escort were hard pressed--losing four men killed and two officers and thirty-one men wounded--but their endurance and gallantry stood every test. The garrison of Ventersdorp sent out fifty men to clear the front of the convoy, and finally brought it back in safety. At one time it seemed as though the convoy was lost, but it was recaptured by dint of hard fighting. Captain Purchas (2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers) especially distinguished himself, Captain Hay (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) was wounded, and Lieutenant Wells (Loyal North Lancashire Regiment), Lieutenant Bankes (Imperial Yeomanry), and Second-Lieutenant Smith (78th Battery R.F.A.), who were in the thick of the fray, had narrow escapes, owing to the prodigious energy with which they tackled the marauders. The work of clearing the right bank of the Vaal towards Klerksdorp was next undertaken by General Fetherstonhaugh and Colonel Williams. A successful action on the 24th against Van Rensburg's banditti enabled the force to march into Klerksdorp with twenty-four prisoners, 6200 rounds of ammunition, and thirty ox waggons. Thirty-five Burghers surrendered in course of the march. General Dixon, veering west from Naauwpoort, made a search for guns and ammunition, which had been buried in the neighbourhood. From his camp at Vlakfontein[3] he moved on the 29th of May to Waterval, where, on a farm, he found the spot where the guns had been buried. The weapons themselves had been removed. Near here ammunition was found, but it was too late in the day to attempt to unearth it. The enemy was hovering all round the region, and it was deemed advisable to return to camp before making a lunge at them. The camp in the absence of General Dixon was well guarded, and in a good defensible position, and there was no reason to believe that the hovering Boers could quickly mass in any large number. [Illustration: THE ENGAGEMENT AT VLAKFONTEIN: THE DERBYSHIRES RE-TAKING THE GUNS AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET Drawing by R. Caton Woodville]