, it seems highly probable that there is much more
truth in the Boers' returns of their casualties than has been believed
at home. Take, _e.g._, the lurid account sent by one of our
correspondents about the awful effects of our shell fire upon General
Cronje's laager. We were told in graphic language of every space in the
laager being torn and rent by the deadly fire of more than fifty field
guns, of the trenches being enfiladed and the green fumes of Lyddite
rising up from the doomed camp. Cronje emerges with a casualty roll of
170 men, and the only inconvenience from our bombardment experienced by
the ladies was the slight abrasion of a young woman's forefinger!

The fact that so many of our Generals have been struck by bullets during
the campaign would seem to corroborate what I have heard on good
authority, _viz._, that some of the best shots in the Transvaal forces
have been told off for long range shooting, and the picking off of our
leaders. One of these fancy shots--a German--was captured in Natal and
told an officer that he was glad to be a prisoner, as he heartily
disliked the task imposed upon him. Some little distance north of the
Modder bridge is a small white house. Within this was found a Boer lying
on a table stone-dead, with a shrapnel bullet in his skull. His Mauser,
still clutched in his stiffened hands, lay on a tripod rest in front of
him and the muzzle pointed through a vertical slit made in the masonry
of the cottage. Every house in the neighbourhood was more or less
injured by shrapnel, and one of them was the scene of a sanguinary
conflict which was utterly misrepresented by one of the Cape papers. The
misrepresentation was to the effect that at the battle of Modder River
the house in question was occupied by a number of Boer wounded from
Belmont and Graspan in charge of several attendants. It was alleged that
two of the attendants deliberately fired upon our troops, who forthwith
entered the house and bayoneted every occupant, wounded and unwounded
alike, the bodies being afterwards weighted, with stones and thrown into
the river. This terrible story spread like wildfire through the Colony,
and Lord Methuen despatched an official denial of the alleged
circumstances to Capetown. The Boer General never, as far as I am
aware, brought any such charge against our troops, but as it undoubtedly
gained considerable credence in the Colony it is perhaps worth while to
mention the real facts of the case. T