into battle all fatigue was forgotten, or they were careless of further physical trial; and they fought like madmen—and as heroes. It was for us a short, hot engagement, and the height and the village of Kwa-Direma were stormed at the point of the bayonet, and in our hands ere the fall of dusk. It transpired that the enemy had confined all their attention to the bush-road from Handeni, down which the eastern column was advancing, and they were taken completely by surprise when our attack pounced on them from the west, and inflicted complete defeat and heavy loss. Meantime the eastern column attacked below, on the road in the bush, east of Kwa-Direma, and carried the bridge-head over the Lukigura River, inflicting further punishment on the beaten enemy. During the early part of the night our new positions on the hill-crest were shelled by the enemy’s naval guns. A few casualties resulted, but most of the shells were high and went over the hill to burst in the vacant bush below. [Sidenote: AN AFTER-BATTLE PAUSE] The next few days were spent in camp at Kwa-Direma. Here I made some sketches of the position and neighbourhood for G.H.Q., and spent some time in the bush, much of which was breast-high in tangled undergrowth and rank grass, but which nevertheless showed traces of where the enemy had scattered and hidden at the time of our attack. Here, one morning, my porters captured a small antelope—Harvey’s Duiker, ♀—even at the door of my native-erected grass hut, where it had rushed in fear and bewilderment on being disturbed near by. Here, also, I had some practice with a 1-in. Krupp gun which we had captured in the late engagement. Though completely out of date, it was a vicious and accurate little piece, and, as long as the captured ammunition lasts, it has been decided to have it added for service to the Machine-gun Section of which I am in charge. A day later, too, I took part in some tests of armoured-car armour plate, at the request of Major Sir John Willoughby. The armour plate withstood the blow of the Krupp gun shell at 100 yards range, and was merely dented. We then tested the German made-up iron-plate shield on the Krupp gun. Our service rifle failed to penetrate the plate, but a ·245 high-velocity sporting rifle of Sir John Willoughby’s put a neat hole clean through it.