to
surrender if they once got him within rifle range.

Personally, I could never see just what the Boers would gain by the white
flag business. As a rule, our troops did not want coaxing into rifle range;
they marched within hitting distance readily enough, and did not require a
white flag to lure them into a tight place, so that the object to be gained
by the enemy by such disgraceful tactics never seemed to me to be too
apparent. If they had ever by such means been able to entrap an army, or to
bring about the wholesale slaughter of our men, I could understand things a
bit better; but they had little to gain and an awful lot to lose by such
tactics. There is no slight risk attached to the act of firing on an
advancing army treacherously under cover of the white flag. Such a deed
rouses all the slumbering devil in the men, and the foe found guilty of
such a deed would get more bayonet than he would find conducive to his
health when it came to his turn to be beaten.

THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN.

MAGERSFONTEIN.

The Australians, after relieving Belmont from the Boer commando, suddenly
received orders to march upon Enslin, as the Boers had attacked that place,
which was held by two companies of the Northamptonshires under Captain
Godley; the latter had no artillery, whilst the enemy, who were over 1,000
strong, had one 12-pounder gun with them, but the sequel proved that the
Boer is a poor fighter in the open country. He is hard to beat in hilly and
rocky ground when acting on the defensive, but he is not over dangerous as
an attacking power. Let him choose his ground, and fight according to his
own traditions, and the best soldiers in the world will find it no sinecure
to oust him. As soon as the Boers put in an appearance at Enslin,
Lieutenant Brierly, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who is attached to the
Northamptons, made his way to a kopje, which had formerly been held by Boer
forces, and a mere handful of men fairly held the enemy in check at that
point for over seven hours. The enemy made frantic efforts to dislodge this
gallant little band, but failed dismally, and they had not the heart to try
to take the kopje by storm, though there were enough of them around the
hill to have eaten the little band of Britishers. In the meantime Captain
Godley and his men held the township. Again and again the enemy threatened
to rush