As
They Fell Back The Green And White Tents Of The Invaders Came Into
View Upon The Russet-Coloured Hillside Of Elandslaagte.
Down at the
red brick railway station the Boers could be seen swarming out of
the buildings in which they had spent the night.
The little Natal
guns, firing with obsolete black powder, threw a few shells into
the station, one of which, it is said, penetrated a Boer ambulance
which could not be seen by the gunners. The accident was to be
regretted, but as no patients could have been in the ambulance the
mischance was not a serious one.
But the busy, smoky little seven-pounder guns were soon to meet
their master. Away up on the distant hillside, a long thousand
yards beyond their own furthest range, there was a sudden bright
flash. No smoke, only the throb of flame, and then the long
sibilant scream of the shell, and the thud as it buried itself in
the ground under a limber. Such judgment of range would have
delighted the most martinet of inspectors at Okehampton. Bang came
another, and another, and another, right into the heart of the
battery. The six little guns lay back at their extremest angle, and
all barked together in impotent fury. Another shell pitched over
them, and the officer in command lowered his field-glass in despair
as he saw his own shells bursting far short upon the hillside.
Jameson's defeat does not seem to have been due to any defect in
his artillery.
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