rse with us,' he said. 'They're the best I've
ever seen.'

The casualty lists tell the same tale. To storm the hill the regiment
dismounted less than two hundred men. They reached the top unchecked,
their Colonel, their Adjutant, Lieutenant Barnes, seven other officers,
and upwards of sixty men killed or wounded--nearly 30 per cent. Many of
this corps came from Johannesburg. After this who will dare call
Outlanders cowards? Not that it will ever matter again.

Viewed in quieter days, the patient, trustful attitude of this colony of
Natal will impress the historian. The devotion of its people to their
Sovereign and to their motherland should endear them to all good
Englishmen, and win them general respect and sympathy; and full
indemnity to all individual colonists who have suffered loss must stand
as an Imperial debt of honour.

CHAPTER V

A CRUISE IN THE ARMOURED TRAIN

Estcourt: November 9, 1899.

How many more letters shall I write you from an unsatisfactory address?
Sir George White's Headquarters are scarcely forty miles away, but
between them and Estcourt stretches the hostile army. Whether it may be
possible or wise to try to pass the lines of investment is a question
which I cannot yet decide; and meanwhile I wait here at the nearest post
collecting such information as dribbles through native channels, and
hoping that early events may clear the road. To wait is often weary
work--but even at this exciting time I come to a standstill at length
with a distinct feeling of relief. The last month has been passed in
continual travel. The fading, confused faces at Waterloo as the train
swept along the platform; the cheering crowds at Southampton; the
rolling decks of the 'Dunottar Castle;' the suspense, the excitement of
first news; a brief day's scurry at Cape Town; the journey to East
London by the last train to pass along the frontier; the tumultuous
voyage in the 'Umzimvubu' amid so great a gale that but for the Royal
Mail the skipper would have put back to port; on without a check to
Pietermaritzburg, and thence, since the need seemed urgent and the
traffic slow, by special train here--all moving, restless pictures--and
here at last--a pause.

Let us review the situation. On Wednesday last, on November 1, the Boer
lines of investment drew round Ladysmith. On Thursday the last train
passed down the railway under the fire of artillery. That night the line
was cut about four miles north of Colenso. Te