The frightful noise could be heard for miles, and the Boers and English were face to face at the forts, some shooting and others using their rifles as clubs. The English lost heavily, but the attack was only partially successful. The Boers had tried to outdo ten to one against them in well fortified positions. The English at night always removed their guns at Belfast from the forts for safety and it was fortunate for them that they did, for General Viljoen with the Johannesburg boys took the big fort on Monument Hill with its maxims and men. He lost his bravest and best veldtcornet in the attack, Ceroni, who fell at the wall of the fort. Plucky Dick Hunt, of the Irish Brigade, was by his side, and he received three wounds, one in the lungs being a very severe one, from which he is suffering to this very day. He, however, with his three wounds, was among the very first to scale the walls and capture the fort. The fort at the coal mine was attacked by Major Wolmorans and about twenty-five artillery boys, including Sergeant Joe Wade, Sergeant Mike Halley, Joe Kennedy, John McGlew, Jim French, Captain McCallum and Jerry O'Leary, of the Irish Brigade. Here the Boers and the English were within two feet of each other, each trying to take the other's head off. Some of the Irish boys actually pulled the rifles out of the Tommies' hands. Finally the Tommies weakened and the boys jumped over the wall and took the fort. Lieutenant Cotzee showed remarkable bravery, was severely wounded and afterwards murdered by some Kaffirs that had been armed by the British. The Boers held the two forts a few hours, helped to care for the dead and wounded English, and then with all their booty returned to camp. At all the other stations the Boers had to fall back because the English were too strong for them. This affair put all the English to work next day along the line, strengthening existing forts, building others, digging trenches and so forth, to make their positions as strong for defence as possible. They were not only frightened, but astonishingly alarmed by the boldness and the aggressiveness of the Boers. We were camped about seven miles from Belfast, about 150 strong, could see everyone in the town, and the English, about 3,000 strong, could see us, yet they never dared to attack us. We had no defences whatever and were camped on the open prairie. "We were as safe as the people in Piccadilly."