ller
holes are for the rifles of the marksmen, and usually the deadliest
shots in a regiment are, when possible, selected for the position. It
takes an expert marksman to shoot with satisfactory results from a
quickly-moving train. Usually an armoured train is also supplied with a
powerful searchlight, in view of a possible night attack. Of course, the
boiler tubing can offer no resistance to artillery. In fact, rifle shots
fired at short range will sometimes penetrate the plates, and to meet
such a possibility sand-bags are often provided, as was the case in the
Egyptian campaign, when the Sirdar found the armoured train of great
service. The man in command of an armoured train thinks first, when an
emergency arises, of his engine. So long as that remains in workable
condition the odds are on his side; but once the vital parts of the
locomotive are damaged, the outlook becomes serious, for an armoured
train can only carry a small body of men, who would be quickly
surrounded by the enemy, who might number hundreds or thousands. The
chances are that an armoured train could not be damaged to such an
extent unless artillery, dynamite, or some equally destructive force
were used.

A machine of this kind, but of third-rate pretensions, was now
continually used by the troops at Frere for the purpose of discovering
the whereabouts of the enemy, and on the 15th of November an exciting
and disastrous voyage was made in the "death-trap," as it was called.
The troops had orders to proceed from Estcourt to Frere, and beyond if
possible, to ascertain how far the line was practicable for the passage
of an army.

The crew of this train consisted of Captain Haldane (Gordon
Highlanders), in command of some seventy non-commissioned officers and
men of the Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant Frankland, Captain Wylie, and
Lieutenant Alexander, with forty-five non-commissioned officers and men
of the Durham Light Infantry, and five Bluejackets under a petty
officer. Mr. Winston Spencer Churchill, who was acting as war
correspondent to the _Morning Post_, also accompanied the party, and in
addition to him were certain railway employees to repair damages. No
sooner had the train got to Frere and telegraphed "all well" than
trouble began. It started to go still farther forward, in spite of the
fact that natives were seen gesticulating warnings. On reaching
Chieveley Station, it was found that there were Boers, who had hitherto
been lying in ambush