412 TRAVELS IN 
gation, as we afterwards found, ot some of the rebel boors, 
who had fled amongst his people, in preference of appearing 
before the General in Bruyntjes Hoogte. Just as we came 
up with the main body a sudden alarm was raised in the rear. 
A Hottentot driver of one of the wa2:gons was killed by a 
hassagai that had been thrown at him by some person posted 
in ambush. KafFers began to appear in great numbers on all 
the heights, .collecting, apparently, with a view to attack us ; 
and several were observed close upon us lurking in the bushes. 
Being at this awkward juncture in a narrow defile, choaked 
almost with brushwood, and surrounded with Kaffers, we 
found it necessary to discharge two or three rounds of grape 
from two field-pieces, in order to clear the thickets. 
The situation of the country became more and more em- 
barrassing. It was a point that required some management 
to prevent a junction between the Kafferji, urged by the rebel 
boors to this act of aggression, and the dissatisfied Hottentots, 
that were every w^here flying from the persecutions of their 
masters. To get the latter down to the plains near Algoa 
Bay, as speedily as possible, was the most advisable measure ; 
accordingly, accompanied by a few dragoons, I took charge 
of the Hottentots and their cattle, and we pursued our jour- 
ney to the southward ; whilst the General marched back into 
the Zuure Veldt, in order to pick up a party of infantry that 
had been stationed there, with a view of catting off a retreat 
of the boors into the Kaffer country. 
Whether it happened that, in passing through the woods, we 
had picked up some of the cattle belonging to the Kaffers, ot 
