were willing to lay odds that, when the gun fired again, it would be found to have taken up a new site. And so universal was this idea that it was not altogether discarded by members of the Staff. With a view to disproving this illusion Colonel Baden-Powell arranged that all our available artillery, under Major Panzera, should effect a reconnaissance of the Boer lines upon the east of the town, from which it could easily be learnt whether the fire of the big gun still dominated that front. There had been some little talk of a movement against the five-pound gun, which the enemy had located at Game Tree, and upon Sunday night I camped with Captain Vernon, from whose fort upon the western outposts, the sortie would have taken place. However, nothing happened, and although a few shells fell about us at daybreak, there was nought to interest one beyond the usual routine of daily life upon the western outposts. Upon returning to town I learnt that the following morning might reveal something more important than a mere artillery exchange. Towards nightfall, to those who knew about the contemplated move, Mafeking appeared to present much unusual animation. Artillery officers, whose duty detained them at points distant from the town, gathered at Headquarters to receive Major Panzera's final instructions before setting out for their emplacements, as at the same time small detachments of men moved to reinforce the entrenchments along the eastern front. For the most part the town went to its rest in ignorance of the surprise which was being laid for the enemy at daybreak upon the following morning, and by nine o'clock the nocturnal aspect of the town was eminently peaceful. The transformation from the harsh and biting sunlight of the day to the soothing and eerie light of night impressed the hour with grandeur and solemnity, which was in striking contrast to the labour upon which we were engaged. From the town, those guns which were not already in position moved to their stations--one, the Hotchkiss, being despatched to an emplacement which had only been completed the preceding night. It was a pleasant scramble to this position across the veldt, and so near to the enemy's lines that we could hear the murmur of their voices as they called to one another in the trenches and discerned their gloomy figures silhouetted against the skyline. The Hotchkiss, which was our extreme piece upon the north-east of the town, was to direct its fire upon the enemy at the waterworks and the opposing corner of their advanced trenches. Its precise utility was uncertain, since it was not possible to see the object at which its fire would be directed, but, as the gun party moved to the emplacement, the officer in charge arranged with the nearest entrenchment in the rear to signal the accuracy of his range. Then we set out to visit the outposts and the different emplacements. Time and distance passed rapidly in the starlight