kopjes were massed our men in reserve, besides all the Horse Artillery and Cavalry and wagons. There was now very heavy Boer shelling over Colenso, giving our men a bad time of it; for instance the whole of our 5′′ crew of garrison gunners were killed and wounded by a shrapnel, and many of the 47 men were hit about the same time. Our own shelling was magnificent and deadly, all our fire being concentrated at one kopje about 6,000 yards off; the musketry fire was also very heavy all along the line. I never saw such a fine sight before. I returned from Colenso to my guns about 3 p.m., in an ambulance train, with Major Brazier Creagh. We are losing about 450 men a day and are advancing very slowly, while the Boers appear to be bringing up more guns on our left. No news from Ladysmith, but we were all glad to hear the brilliant news of the capture of Cronje and all his force by Lord Roberts, and the cheering in the fighting line on the news being communicated was wild. A very heavy musketry fire raged all night, and the Inniskillings in a night attack on Railway Hill lost a lot of men, in fact were cut up.

Sunday, 25th February.-Once more the Commander-inChief found his position untenable, and half of the guns were withdrawn in the night across to our side of the Tugela on to Hlangwane; all the wagons and stores were also shifted out of Colenso and the majority of the troops moved to the right to the Hlangwane and Monte Christo slopes. Colenso was still held in force however by the 10th Brigade under General Talbot Coke. Two of our 4'7 guns on platform mountings were now ordered up to Hlangwane from our hill, and were got into position with much labour at 2,500 yards by Lieutenant Anderton, Natal Naval Volunteers; they did very good work at that decisive range. There was to-day what we called a Boer

Sunday, that is, a cessation of firing on both sides after a hard ten days of it; the day was wet and we were all washed out of our tents, some of which were blown clean down.

Monday, 26th February.-The attack still hangs fire while our troops are being massed on Hlangwane and Monte Christo. The shelling of Colenso by the Boers is still going on pretty heavily, and one only wonders how Naval 12-pounders like ours can be left here as they are, no less than six of our guns doing nothing at all. Drummond left the 6" gun under me for a time; and, on spotting a Boer gun on Grobler's Hill, I let drive at 15,000 yards, 28° elevation. As the shot only fell some 200 yards short, I recommended a move to closer range, but the gun eventually never was moved closer. While on Gun Hill we had several civilians from Pietermaritzburg and Durban looking on at the fighting. A very wet night, which made our positions a swamp, but I was warmed by a warning to be ready to move my own guns to the front.

Tuesday, 27th February.-A wire was handed to me in the night to join the 10th Brigade with the Yorks and Lancasters, and off we went at 6 a.m. in good spirits but in a thick drizzle of rain, passing along the eastern slope of Hlangwane and winding up a fearful road to the front. The Yorks and Lancasters at this point suddenly turned off, and feeling that something was going wrong I halted my guns and rode on to the Headquarters Staff, about half a mile on, finding the Infantry attack just about to commence, the men all looking very weary, and no wonder. I spoke to Ogilvy, who was there with his guns, and afterwards to General Buller, who was standing quite close surveying the general attack of our Infantry on the centre and right 3,000 yards ahead of us. The guns were giving

the Boers lyddite and shrapnel, and the fighting line were

cheering as kopje after kopje was taken. It was evident to my unpractised eye that we had the Boers on the run at last. I told the Commander-in-Chief that my guns had arrived, when he replied, "Why, you should be in Colenso," and turned to his Staff, saying that some mistake had been made. I therefore showed my written orders, and after reading them, the General said, "It is not your fault, but march to Colenso as quickly as possible"; and he detached Lord Tullibardine to show us the way; I had seen a good deal of him at Springfield. "The Pontoon bridge is up," he added; "you must use the Boer pont and so ferry across the Tugela." So off we went, and got to Colenso at 2 p.m. after a very hot march.

The ground at the railway crossing which we had to cross was being heavily and accurately shelled, so leaving my gun train for a time in a spot safe from the bursting shrapnel I rode on to prepare the pont for our crossing the river. We got the first gun over to the Colenso side of the river after hard work, the rotten bank giving way and the gun being half submerged in the water; then the somewhat unhandy soldiers in charge of the pont capsized a team of gun oxen when half-way across the river by rocking the pont, and, nearly drowning the poor oxen, swam ashore themselves and left them to their fate. It was now 5 p.m. and as there were no men to do anything it was an impossible position, with the pont sunk in the middle of the flooded river; so that at dusk, after telling some soldiers who had come up from General Coke's Brigade in response to my request what to do to right the pont, I drew up my remaining gun and wagons on the south bank, and put the gun which was already across the river out of action under a guard below the river bank in case of any Boer swoop on it.

Wednesday, 28th February.-A red-letter day. Before