s in a terrible commotion when I reached it,
some fifty fugitive families from the outlying districts, with their
stock and belongings, having already taken shelter there, while others
were hourly arriving; and every man had a story to tell of some farm
that had been attacked, its inhabitants murdered, and its stock driven
off. Something very nearly approaching to a state of panic prevailed,
for the town at that time contained only some three hundred inhabitants,
of whom three-quarters were women and children; moreover, it lay quite
open and unprotected on every side, and might easily be rushed by a
sufficiently strong body of the enemy. But there were a few cool heads
among those congregated in the town, one notable being a certain Major
Henderson, who, like my father, had held a post in the British army, and
who at once naturally came to the front and took the lead in preparing
the place to meet successfully a possible attack.

A laager, consisting of wagons interlocked, was constructed at each end
of the single street that then ran through the town; the inner ends of
the narrow lanes giving off the main street were securely barricaded,
thus forming a number of culs-de-sac in which, if the attacking savages
dared to venture there, they would be swept out of existence by the
defenders behind the barricades; and every back door and window of every
house accessible from the veld was strongly protected by heavy timber
and loopholed for rifle fire: thus when Henderson's scheme of defence
was complete the town presented a very tough nut to crack for an enemy
without artillery or firearms. The greatest difficulty, it appeared,
was the shortness of ammunition, consequently my arrival with a
wagon-load of the commodity was regarded as scarcely less than a special
interposition of Providence. Then the male inhabitants voluntarily
placed themselves under martial law, under Henderson's command, taking
it in turns to perform sentry-go day and night; while the best mounted
among us undertook to act as scouts, riding forth from the town daily in
various directions in quest of news of the enemy, and returning in the
evening with such intelligence as we had been able to gain. This daily
scouting service proved to be of the utmost value, for in the first
place it prevented the possibility of a surprise attack, and so enabled
the stock congregated in the town to be daily driven forth to graze and
water; and it also was the means whe