Why were the people not shot dead when they arrived at the first laager?

Vicinity of Lang’s Nek, February 1881. From a statement made in Newcastle by the hottentot driver, Allan Smith, who quoted a certain Viljoen, who would have quoted Joubert. Haggard and Fitzpatrick used his statement to implicate Joubert in the murder of Dr. Barber and wounding of Mr. Walter Dyas, who arrived without prior arrangement in a boer camp during the First Boer War.