The Cape Police--A garrison of six men--Merry-go-rounds and naphtha flares--A clamant want of fifty men--Where are the troops?--"It'll be just the same as it was in '81" 35 VI. THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE. French's reconnaissance--An artillery duel--Beginning of the attack-- Ridge after ridge--A crowded half-hour 43 VII. THE BIVOUAC. A victorious and helpless mob--A break-neck hillside--Bringing down the wounded--A hard-worked doctor--Boer prisoners--Indian bearers-- An Irish Highlander in trouble 56 VIII. THE HOME-COMING FROM DUNDEE. Superfluous assistance--A smiling valley--The Border Mounted Rifles-- A rain-storm--A thirty-two miles' march--How the troops came into Ladysmith 66 IX. THE STORY OF NICHOLSON'S NEK. An attenuated mess--A regiment 220 strong--A miserable story--The white flag--Boer kindness--Ashamed for England 74 X. THE GUNS AT RIETFONTEIN. A column on the move--The nimble guns--Garrison gunners at work-- The veldt on fire--Effective shrapnel--The value of the engagement 81 XI. THE BOMBARDMENT. Long Tom--A family of harmless monsters--Our inferiority in guns-- The sensations of a bombardment--A little custom blunts sensibility 92 XII. THE DEVIL'S TIN-TACKS. The excitement of a rifle fusilade--A six-hours' fight--The picking off of officers--A display of infernal fireworks--"God bless the Prince of Wales" 106 XIII. A DIARY OF DULNESS. The mythopoeic faculty--A miserable day--The voice of the pompom-- Learning the Boer game--The end of Fiddling Jimmy--Melinite at close quarters--A lake of mud 114 XIV. NEARING THE END. Dulness interminable--Ladysmith in 2099 A.D.--Sieges obsolete hardships--Dead to the world--The appalling features of a bombardment 124 XV. IN A CONNING-TOWER. The self-respecting bluejacket--A German atheist--The sailors' telephone--What the naval guns meant to Ladysmith--The salt of the earth 134 THE LAST CHAPTER. By VERNON BLACKBURN 144 MAPS. PAGE MAP OF THE COUNTRY ROUND LADYSMITH 95 MAP ILLUSTRATING THE SEAT OF WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA _At end_ FROM CAPETOWN TO LADYSMITH I. FIRST GLIMPSES OF THE STRUGGLE. FIRST IMPRESSIONS--DENVER WITH A DASH OF DELHI--GOVERNMENT HOUSE--THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--A WRANGLING DEBATE--A DEMONSTRATION OF THE UNEMPLOYED--THE MENACE OF COMING WAR. CAPETOWN, _Oct. 10._