ndred young birds to travel from the seat of war
to Ladysmith, and great interest was taken by all who began to
understand that news of the outer world would shortly be very limited
indeed.

On the 14th the Free State troops took up a position on a small kopje
whence a British battery strove to rout them. There was some smart
cannonading, till the British were forced to fall back on the town.
Their day assault over, the Boers tried a new experiment, that of a
midnight attack. All the Afrikander cannon simultaneously opened fire on
the town, turning the sleeping scene into a lurid inferno. Several
buildings caught fire, and the whistling and shrieking shells at
intervals made terrifying music in the weird silence of the night.

ESTCOURT

Opinions regarding Estcourt differ. Some consider it a picturesque and
verdant little village, placed in the bosom of the hills and very
similar to a Sussex hamlet on the Downs. Others have described it as
well deserving the name of being the hottest and most unpleasant region
in the high veldt of Natal. It is in the thorn country, and is
surrounded with rough irregular kopjes. The railway bridge over the
Bushman's River is an imposing structure, and the line leads from Durban
to Maritzburg, Colenso, and Ladysmith, and thence to the Orange Free
State and the Transvaal. A little lower down the river is a substantial
bridge that runs across from Estcourt to Fort Napier, a quaint-looking
structure, neither ornamental nor useful, for hills behind and round it
command the situation. Thus commanded, it is utterly indefensible, and
would need an army corps to hold it. The garrison, under
Brigadier-General Wolfe-Murray, at this time consisted of the Royal
Dublin Fusiliers, the Border Regiment, one squadron of Imperial Light
Horse, Natal Field Artillery, and some scouts. This small force would
have been absolutely inadequate to the defence of the place had it been
seriously attacked. The Boers in hordes were supported at Colenso by
heavy guns, while the British troops that had to evacuate that village
had but one obsolete nine-pounder manned by volunteers. The absence of
good guns was everywhere deplored. At Ladysmith the position was merely
saved by the hasty arrival at the very last moment of the Naval Brigade
with their formidable weapons, and at Colenso the regrettable evacuation
was obligatory solely on account of the lack of guns. The depressing
effect o