arly all of
them--for good; rifle bullets and shrapnel and shell splinters are
deadly enough, but deadliest of all is the bayonet thrust. So much
tissue is severed by the broad blade of the Lee-Metford bayonet that the
chances of recovery are often very slight. As volunteer recruits know
sometimes to their cost, the mere mishandling of a bayonet at the end of
a heavy rifle may, even amid the peaceful evolutions of squad drill,
inflict a painful wound. When the weapon is used scientifically with the
momentum of a heavy man behind it, its effects are terrible. Private St.
John of the Grenadiers thrust at a Boer in front of him with such force
that he drove not only the bayonet, but the muzzle of the rifle clean
through the Dutchman. St. John was immediately afterwards shot through
the head and lay dead on the top of the kopje, side by side with the man
he had killed.

When our train, after its journey to Capetown, next returned to Belmont,
few signs of the recent engagement were visible. The strands of wire
fencing on either side the line were cut through here and there, and
twisted back several yards where our fifteen-pounders had been galloped
through to shell the retreating Boers. Now and again the eye was caught
by little heaps of cartridge cases marking the spot where some soldier
had lain down.

Less pleasant reminiscences were furnished by the decomposing bodies of
several mules, and four or five vultures wheeling over the plain. Some
enthusiasts on our train had on the previous journey cut off several
hoofs from the dead mules as relics of the fight. Our under-cook had
secured a more agreeable souvenir of Belmont in the shape of a small
goat found wandering beside the railway. This animal now struts about a
garden in Capetown with a collar suitably inscribed around its neck, and
the proud owner has refused a L10 note for it. Before their abandonment
of the position the enemy had hurriedly buried a few of their dead, but
it is very difficult to dig amongst the stones and boulders, and the
interment was so inadequate that hands and feet were protruding from the
soil. In fact several of our men whose patrol-beat covered this ground
told me it was terribly trying to walk among these rough and ready
graves in the heat of the day.

Along the whole line from Belmont northwards and to some distance
southwards the telegraph lines had been cut by the Boers. Not content
with severing the wires here and there, they had cut