Episode 79 - Reitz meets the Doppers and a wild-eyed prophet as the Gold Mines chug back to life

Episode 79 is full of strange swirling tales where Deneys Reitz our intrepid Boer narrator has been separated from his brother near Rustenberg after riding to fetch his all important saddle bags. Then to make matters much worse, his only remaining horse died. This left the youngster in a pickle, adrift in the veld, alone, with his only plan now to reach General Koos de la Rey who’s operating somewhere in the west. Maybe he could obtain a couple of horses there he thought. Little did he know that de la Rey’s commando had been hit by the same horse sickness that had put paid to his favourite horse, Malperd, then his replacement animal a few weeks later. Across the region, the sickness was taking its toll on all commandos, as well as the British cavalry and mounted infantry units. Reitz meets a prophet by the name of Van Rensburg who believes he has powers of the occult and then witnesses an apparent miraculous event although remains sceptical of it all. Meanwhile, High commissioner Milner had relocated from Cape Town to Johannesburg. He was also planning to return to England for a short visit later in April but before then wanted to get the Gold Mines going to help pay for the war.