munition would thus be in danger of being taken.
Therefore there was nothing left for me but to get it
through by way of Greylingstad Station. It had to
be done, and,--I had no carriages by which I could
convey it, as I had not sufficient hands to take carriages
from the trucks. ¹ There was only one way (course)
open; the commandos from Smithfield, Wepener and
Bethulie still had, contrary to the Kroonstad resolu-
tion, carriages with them at Frankfort; I hastened to
that village and sent the necessary number of these
carriages under a strong escort, to fetch the ammuni-
tion from Greylingstad.

In order to do this responsible work I required a
man whom I could trust. Captain Danie Theron
was no longer with me, because he, being a Transvaaler,
had gone with General Louis Botha. But there was
another: Gideon J. Scheepers. ² To him I entrusted
the task of reconnoitring the British, so that the car-
riages which were going to fetch the ammunition
could do in safety what they were required to do, and
I knew that he would do it.

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