mounted battery, reconnoitred in the direction of Colenso. Efforts were
made to restore communication with Ladysmith, but in vain; yet the
troops within kept up a cheerful attitude, and a continuous artillery
duel was carried on between besiegers and besieged.

The art of dodging shells had by this time begun to be studied by the
least nervous, for no place was safe from these screeching messengers of
death. Hard roadways were rent in twain and deep gulfs dug in their
midst. Gardens, from being trim and neat, became a scene of upheaval and
dilapidation; the open veldt was strewed with dust and debris, and rocks
were shot from their positions and sent hurtling here and there to
assist in the work of wreckage. It was curious to notice upon different
temperaments the effect of the shells' arrival. Some persons might be
seen holding their hands to their heads as though to protect them from
damage; others shrank under the nearest available cover or screwed
themselves up as though endeavouring to make smaller parcels of
themselves, or hoping to lessen their own obstructiveness to the passage
of the devilish invader; some would flatten their backs against a
wall--make pancakes of themselves--while others would fall prone to
earth, and there grovel till the moment of peril was past. Many would
rush helter-skelter towards the river-caves, vast places of refuge that
had been dug into the deep-shelving clay and sandbanks of the Klip, and
there, in their rocky hiding-places, breathe freely and await the
inevitable fracas that told them, temporarily, that the coast was clear.
These caves and their powers of accommodation began to be deeply
interesting to the community, and daily the soldiers were set to work
constructing new ones for the safety of the apprehensive. The places
varied in size and quality according to the demands of their tenants.
Some would accommodate a dozen people standing upright in them, and even
admitted of furniture of a rough kind--bedding, seats, eatables, and
cooking-pots--just enough to enable nervous folks to go "out of town"
for a day or two during a period of bombardment. Others were mere
fox-holes, as it were, alcoves scooped out of the bank to serve as a
screen for the more hardy souls who were content to breathe the air of
the river-brink, and only popped their heads under cover in ostrich
fashion when danger threatened. The banks thus became honeycombed, and
it was not unusual to find a whole family