ll in
England, saying that he was with the South African Light Horse on
probation for a lieutenancy. To-night there was another sorrowful
gathering of correspondents in the cemetery, round the grave of our
brilliant colleague, G.W. Steevens, who died this afternoon from a
sudden relapse, when most of us hoped that he was on the way to
recovery. Bulwaan searchlight, shining on us like a Cyclops' eye,
followed the sad procession along miles of winding road to the cemetery,
then left us in darkness beside the grave where our comrade was buried
at midnight. He had been tenderly nursed throughout his long illness by
Mr. Maud of the _Graphic_, who was chief mourner. He died in the house
of Mr. Fortescue Carter, the historian of the previous Boer War.

_January 18._--Kaffir runners report that General Lyttelton's division
crossed the Tugela at Potgieter's Drift yesterday, and Sir Charles
Warren's at Trichard's Drift to-day. We also hear of Lord Dundonald
being near Acton Homes with a force of Irregular Horse, some of whom
wear sakkabulu feathers in their hats and carry "assegais." Possibly
these are Lancers, but we cannot identify them. These stories may be
true, for we hear heavy firing in the south-west at frequent intervals.
The Intelligence Department expects an attack on one of our outposts
to-night. Therefore we may go to bed and sleep in peace.

_January 22._--Since Friday Sir Redvers Buller's guns have been pounding
away for several hours of every day, beginning sometimes at dawn or
carrying on far into the night. The throbbing vibrations of heavy
artillery afar off seemed to fill the air all through Sunday, and we
have seen shells bursting along the heights of Intaba Mnyama or Black
Mountain, not much more than twelve miles in a straight line from
Ladysmith. If our troops are attacking positions successively where
there is no more water than can be brought to them from the Tugela they
must be having a hard time, for the shade temperature at midday rises to
104 deg., and we know by experience what that means in the full blaze of
sunshine on bare kopjes where the smooth boulders feel scorchingly hot
to the touch. I watch the distant cannonade with a keen personal
interest, for when there is fighting along the Tugela the South African
Light Horse are surely in it.

Before daybreak this morning Colonel Knox, in command of Mounted
Infantry, Carabiniers, Border Mounted Rifles, and a detachment of
Colonel Dartnell's Front