teen men and wounded thirty. Guns of this description
are not, according to the Boer idea, at all proper, and they do not
like our way of staggering humanity. Had these guns been landed earlier,
how much might have been saved? It is a peculiar sight to see the
4.7-inch fired. Many thought it would turn over, but Captain Percy Scott
appears to have well calculated the stresses; there is with a full
charge of cordite a slight rise of the fore end, which practically
relieves all the fastenings. Hastily put together, and crude as it
looks, it really embraces all the points of a scientific mounting, and
it wants a great expert to pronounce an opinion on it. The gun is
mounted so high that to the uninitiated it looks as if it must turn over
on firing, but it does not, and the higher angle of elevation the less
strain there is on it. The arrival of our guns practically put the Royal
Artillery guns out of use, for they can come into action 2000 yards
behind those supplied to the soldiers and then make better practice.
Their arrival has, every one admits, quite changed the situation.'

"Captain Scott has also rigged up a searchlight on a railway truck with
a flasher attachment, the idea being to use it for communication with
Kimberley and Ladysmith if these places are surrounded. It has been
tested at a distance of forty miles, and proved a great success. I am
told, too, that he is now engaged in designing a travelling carriage for
a 6-inch gun, and has, indeed, converted the _Terrible_ into a factory
for curiosities in gun-mountings.

"Each mounting, by the way, has an inscription upon it, presumably
concocted by the ship's painter. One, a parody upon the Scotch proverb,
runs, 'Those who sup with me will require a devil of a long spoon';
another, 'For what we are going to receive may the Lord make us truly
thankful--Oom Paul'; and a third, 'Lay me true and load me tight, the
Boers will soon be out of sight.' I saw one of these guns fired with an
elevation of 24 degrees and a range of 12,000 yards, and fully expected
to see the whole thing capsize, but it hardly moved. After the firing of
several rounds I carefully examined the mounting, and noticed that,
crude as it might appear, a wonderful amount of practical knowledge was
apparent in its construction; the strain was beautifully distributed,
every bolt and each balk bearing its proportionate share. It is in every
way creditable to the navy that when emergency arises such a th