At first their progress was slow, for after being for
more than two days and a half packed up like cattle, they had almost
lost the use of their limbs; but gradually the pace was accelerated. Men
took the little children on their shoulders, others helped the women
along. Charlestown, on the British side of the frontier, was already
occupied by the Boers, who hooted and abused them as they passed
through. At Laing's Nek there was a Dutch commando with some guns.
Two miles on the women could go no further, and they halted at a large
farmhouse which had been deserted by its owners. All the men, however,
who were alone, determined to push on at once to Newcastle, and promised
they would send vehicles of some sort to take them on if they could
possibly be obtained. Mrs. King and the other ladies authorized them to
pay any sums demanded.
Thankful indeed were the tired women when they reached the farmhouse.
They found the doors unfastened, as the farmer knew that were he to lock
them the Boers would certainly batter them in when they arrived, and
would probably do greater damage to the furniture left behind than if
they had obtained an entry without trouble. The men soon found the wood-
shed, and in a short time great fires blazed in every room.
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