"The Boers are shocking bad shots," the latter said. "You are in much more danger of being hit when they are not firing at you than when they are aiming at you. They direct their fire principally at Wesselton Mine, in the hope, no doubt, that shells will go down the pit and damage the pumping-gear, for if they should succeed we should find it very difficult to maintain our water-supply, as it would all have to be carried up from the mine by hand. Not a single shot has fallen within a hundred yards of it. They have damaged the houses a good deal in the line of fire, but they have never been able to give their guns the right elevation. I fancy their powder is by no means good, and is very uneven in quality. Sometimes it will carry a good deal beyond the mine, and at other times falls short of it." "You have a good supply of shell, have you not?" "Yes, a very fair supply; and the De Beers people have begun casting some, and have turned out some very fair specimens. They are rougher than British work, no doubt, but they serve the purpose very well, and we can make as good practice with them as with our own. Ah, here comes the man himself! He often comes up here for a look-out. I don't think he gets on very well with the commandant, but the people here swear by him, and his presence is an immense encouragement to us all; and there can be no doubt that with the resources he has at his back, with a whole army of well-trained mechanics of all sorts, and machinery, to say nothing of his miners and Kaffirs, he is a host in himself." [Illustration: YORKE GAVE A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLES.] As he spoke Rhodes himself came up. Yorke looked with interest at the man who is the Napoleon of South Africa--a square-built man, with a smoothly shaven face except for a thick moustache, with hair waving back from a broad forehead, strong and determined chin and mouth, somewhat broad in the cheeks, giving his face the appearance of squareness, light eyes, keen but kindly; altogether a strong and pleasant face. "Good-morning!" he said to the officer; "things seem pretty quiet to-day. Our fight three days back could not be called a success in itself, but it must have given the Boers a higher respect for our fighting powers, and made them dislike more than ever the idea of trying to attack us. I do not think I know your face, sir," he went on, turning to Yorke. "I thought I knew all the officers in the place." "I only came in the day before yesterday, in the evening, bringing despatches from Lord Methuen to Colonel Kekewich."