Boer " Voortrekkers " anef Commandos 97 



provisions ! I next day left the commando and laid 

 the case before President Pretorius in Potchefstroom, 

 who at once gave me a fat slaughter cow and a bag 

 of wheat meal which Mrs. Botha the mother of 

 Cornelius Botha (afterwards secretary to Mr. Paul 

 Kruger), made into bread and cakes for me. I waited 

 in Potchefstroom until the contingent arrived, when 

 the case was tried and the 60 fine imposed was 

 remitted, and the Commandants and other officials 

 reprimanded for their behaviour at the front, so I 

 got off with flying colours ! There were some good 

 fellows on the commando and as it was a new 

 experience for me I enjoyed it, but it was pretty 

 rough and the horseplay sometimes dangerous. One 

 joke was tossing a man in a freshly slaughtered ox 

 hide and it was a sickening experience for the victim. 

 I was never subjected to it. 



While waiting at the Mooi River for the Mahura 

 commando to come up from lower Vaal river, a 

 contingent from the Elands river Ward arrived and 

 joined my camp, they were mostly Bezuidenhouts 

 and hunters, a jolly lot of fellows and they had 

 music and dancing on the grass in the moonlight 

 every evening. You never meet that light-hearted, 

 rollicking class of Boer now. When the Pretoria 

 section of the commando turned up, the leaders were 

 sulky because I had worsted them with the president, 

 but by a judicious application of gin to some, coffee 

 and biscuits and fat biltong to others, and a cheerful 

 face, we were soon friends again. In the evening, 

 all kinds of rough outdoor games were played among 

 them. One " Stok-Trek " -when two men sit 

 opposite to each other, on the ground, their feet 

 against each other, a stout stick held by both, the 

 one who is pulled upright or forward loses the game, 

 and a small prize is awarded. Willem Horn had 



