Their actual positions were revealed by the presence of their cartridge cases, which showed that four kinds of rifles had been used--Mauser, Lee-Metford, Martini and Stehr--and the Boers themselves were so perfectly concealed and so widely distributed that our column might have remained all day, firing with guns and rifles at the kopje, without disabling more than one or two of the enemy. Apparently the enemy's picket on the hill could not see the Camerons passing along (it was dark then, and they were well spread out), or else the Boers intended to devote all their energies to stampeding the battery and the five inch-gun. Going down into the plain, the positions taken up by the men of A company, when they were suddenly fired upon, were revealed by the little heaps of cartridge cases, showing that the men had thrown themselves down from five to ten paces apart, in line, and with another line of men some little distance in rear, evidently the rear half company. The number of cases in each pile averaged about twenty or twenty-five, several men having fired as many as thirty-two; but a weak point was revealed by the number of unexpended cartridges lying about, as many as thirty-one in one particular spot. This is accounted for partly by the rounds falling out of the pouches when they are opened and the men are lying down; but there is also another reason--the men have a habit, a natural one too, of drawing out a handful of rounds and laying them on the ground to be handy for use; and when a sudden advance is made these rounds are forgotten. As the clip system of loading is pretty sure to be adopted without delay, there is no reason for harping upon the disadvantages of our pouches and our custom of single loading. There were a number of dead oxen lying about, and two dead horses, one belonging to Major Hanwell, which had been shot at the same time as that unfortunate officer, and the other belonging to an officer of General Hunter's staff; while far away, more than half a mile off, were some dead mules. Major Hanwell was buried the same afternoon in the little cemetery of the town; he was a smart soldier, and well known in Poona and Bombay. CHAPTER XXI. BACK TO LINDLEY. Ventersburg--Kroonstad--Boer guns captured at Bothaville--Story of the action--To Lindley--Bad drifts and willing workers--Luxuries for the garrison--Their doings during October. We remained several days in camp, and on the 1st of November a party was sent into Ventersburg to burn and destroy some of the houses; they were wretched little shanties, most of the better class houses in the town being left untouched. A number of prisoners were taken, and some of the residents were deported and sent off to the railway in our wagons.