by the alarm-bell. All the defences had, indeed, been brought
to a wonderful pitch of perfection by the C.O. First there was a network
of rifle-pits, which gave the Boers no peace day or night, and from
which on one side or the other an almost incessant sniping went on.
These were supplemented by dynamite mines, the fame of which had
frightened the Boers more than anything else, all connected with
Headquarter Staff Office by electric wires. In addition there was
barbed-wire fencing round the larger earthworks, and massive barricades
of waggons and sandbags across the principal streets. All this looked
very simple once erected and in working order, but it was the outcome of
infinite thought and ever-working vigilance. Then there was a complete
system of telephones, connecting all the redoubts and the hospital with
the Staff Office, thereby saving the lives of galloping orderlies,
besides gaining their services as defenders in a garrison so small that
each unit was an important factor. Last, but certainly not least, were
the bomb-proof shelters, which black labour had constructed under
clever supervision all over the town, till at that time, in case of
heavy shelling, nearly every inhabitant could be out of harm's way. What
struck me most forcibly was that, in carrying out these achievements,
Colonel Baden-Powell had been lucky enough to find instruments, in the
way of experienced men, ready to his hand. One officer was proficient in
bomb-proofs, the postmaster thoroughly understood telephones, while
another official had proved himself an expert in laying mines. The area
to be defended had a perimeter of six miles; but, in view of the
smallness of the garrison and the overwhelming number of the Boers, it
was fortunate the authorities had been bold and adventurous enough to
extend the trenches over this wide space, instead of following the old
South African idea of going into laager in the market-square, which had
been the first suggestion. The town was probably saved by being able to
present so wide a target for the Boer artillery, and although we were
then, and for the next few weeks, cut off from all communication with
the outer world, even by nigger letter-carriers, and in spite of bullets
rattling and whizzing through the market-square and down the
side-streets, the Boer outposts were gradually being pushed away by our
riflemen in their invisible pits. While on this subject, I must mention
that a day spent in those tren