ect that the big weapon inside must either have been dismantled or
put out of action. Since then it has not spoken, and the sailors
therefore naturally claim that they have silenced it for good and all.
An hour later the other naval gun--"Lady Anne" by name--silenced
"Puffing Billy of Bulwaan" for a time, and we have evidence that the
Boers must have suffered some serious losses before noon, when General
Joubert sent in a flag of truce, according to a custom which seems to be
in favour with him, whenever things are going a bit awry from his point
of view.

The Irish-American, who has been mentioned as having given himself up as
a deserter, described how the Boer gunners, terrorised by shrapnel fire,
had to be forced into the batteries under threats. But if the Boer
gunners are panic-stricken they have a curious way of showing it, for
some of them stood boldly on the parapets to watch the effect of a shot,
and the accuracy of their return fire does not betray much nervousness.
We are inclined to believe, however, that the Boer losses from artillery
fire have been greater than ours, partly because their shots have been
widely distributed in a speculative way with no particular object in
view, while ours have been aimed directly at the enemy's batteries, or
at sangars, to which their gun-crews retire between the rounds; and
partly, if not mainly, because our naval guns fire common shell with
bursting charges of black powder, the effect of which--though not so
violent locally as that of the Boer shells, charged with melinite
explosive--is spread over a much wider area. It is not much
satisfaction, however, for the losses and worry we endure here to know
that the investing force suffers even more severely so long as it
continues to harass us while we remain inactively helpless.

The men were beginning to say that they had stood this sort of thing
long enough, when the measure of their discontent was filled to
overflowing this morning by a bombardment fiercer than ever. It opened
with the barking of "Pom-Poms" as early as half-past five, and ran
through the whole gamut from lowest bass of a big gun's boom to the
shrillest scream of smaller projectiles and the whip-like whistle of
shrapnel bullets lashing the air with so little intermission that within
two hours no less than seventy-five shells had burst in and about
Ladysmith camp. This was too much to be borne patiently, and every
soldier welcomed the order for an offensive