amber, which presented to my astonished eyes anything but the
characteristics of a quiet study then. Papers scattered in every
direction were buried with clothes and kit under a wreckage of building
materials. One fragment of iron shell had gone clean through a bag and
all its contents to bury itself beneath the floor in earth. Another had
crushed my precious Kodak flat, and there was scarcely a thing exposed
in the place that had not been torn by the blast of powder or cut by
splinters. The diminished population of Ladysmith began to gather about
that spot when they found that no other shells fell there. "What a lucky
escape for you!" they all said, and I devoutly agreed with them.

That was "Long Tom's" last attempt at bombarding Ladysmith to-day. He
had been frequently silenced, and once apparently disabled in his heavy
duel with "Lady Anne," as Captain Lambton names the naval quick-firing
gun, and a final lucky shot either put him out of action for the day or
injured so many Boer gunners that their comrades did not care to "face
the music" again. While all this bombardment was going on, the telegraph
staff and post-office clerks, having no work to do, amused themselves by
playing cricket on the raceground within sight of the Boers on Bulwaan,
and well within range of guns mounted near the crest of that hill,
whence a hot fire was for some time directed towards the town. And they
played their match to a finish, though one shell burst very close to
them.

Meanwhile General Brocklehurst having succeeded General French in the
cavalry command, took out another flying column composed of 5th Dragoon
Guards, Imperial Light Horse, Border Mounted Rifles, and one field
battery, to keep the enemy in play and prevent them from mounting other
guns. He attacked the ridges about Lancer's Nek and all his troops
behaved brilliantly. The Border Mounted Rifles in squadrons, wave behind
wave, charged a kopje as if they meant to ride full tilt to its crest,
but halting at its base to dismount they scaled its rugged slopes and
drove the Boers back to another ridge, exchanging shots at short range
with effect on both sides. The Imperial Light Horse had meanwhile got
into a tight place, and the 5th Dragoon Guards, dashing forward to their
assistance were badly galled by fire from Boers concealed among rocks in
front and flank. Out of this difficulty they had to run the gauntlet for
their lives, but not so hurriedly that they could not stop