every moment, under cover of my macintosh, to see if
it were yet half past three. Another minute and it would soon be
decided whether I should be the vanquished or the victor. How many
burghers, who were now marching so eagerly to charge the enemy in his
trenches, would be missed from our ranks to-morrow? It is these
moments of tension which make an officer's hair turn grey. The
relation between our burgher and his officers is so entirely different
from that which exists between the British officer and his men or
between these ranks perhaps in any other standing army. We are all
friends. The life of each individual burgher in our army is highly
valued by his officer and is only sacrificed at the very highest
price. We regret the loss of a simple burgher as much as that of the
highest in rank. And it was the distress and worry of seeing these
lives lost, which made me ponder before the battle.

Suddenly one of my adjutants called out: "I hear some shouting. What
may this be?"

I threw my waterproof over my head and struck a match, then cried: "It
is time, my lads!" And in a few seconds a chain of fire flamed up
round the forts, immediately followed by the rattling and crackling of
the burghers' Mausers. The enemy was not slow in returning our fire.

It is not easy to adequately render the impression a battle in the
dark makes. Each time a shot is fired you see a flash of fire several
yards long, and where about 500 or 600 rifles are being fired at a
short distance from you, it makes one think of a gigantic display of
fireworks.

Although it was still dusk, I could easily follow the course of the
fight. The defenders' firing slackened in several places, to subside
entirely in others, while from the direction of the other reports and
flashes, our men were obviously closing up, drawing tighter the ring
round the enemy.

So far, according to my scouts, no stir had been made from Belfast,
which encouraged me to inform the officers that we were not being cut
off. At daybreak only a few shots were falling, and when the fog
cleared up I found Helvetia to be in our hands.

General Muller reported that his part of the attack had been
successfully accomplished, and that a 4.7 naval gun had been found in
the great fortress. I gave orders to fetch this gun out of the fort
without delay, to take away the prisoners we had made and as much of
the commissariat as we could manage to carry, and to burn the
remainder.

Towards the