[Sidenote: NOV. 15-20, 1899.] _The Boers in Central Natal._] In face of the Boer advance, the position of the garrison at Estcourt, which did not reach 3,000 men, became very serious. The place was commanded by heights from which the Boer long-range guns could bombard with effect, and from the numerical weakness of the British force and the want of water these heights could not be occupied by our men. There were no cavalry or mounted infantry beyond a couple of hundred men to meet and keep touch with the enemy. The only artillery available was composed of one or two naval 12-pounders and the Natal Government obsolete 9-pounder muzzle-loaders. The Home Authorities in their wisdom had decided that this was to be an infantry war; and the result was that the Boers by their extreme mobility, and the ubiquity which resulted from that mobility, were able to do what they liked. They could collect great quantities of cattle and loot, could isolate the British garrisons in Natal, and almost invest them. Had they determined to destroy the railway, the culverts, and the railway bridges south of Colenso the damage and delay caused would have been very great, but for some inscrutable reason they did little beyond wrecking the iron bridge at Frere and tearing up the rails in one or two places. [Illustration: KAFFIRS DIGGING A TRENCH FOR THE BRITISH AT CHIEVELEY.] [Illustration: [_Photo by Elliott & Fry._ MR. WINSTON LEONARD SPENCER CHURCHILL Is the eldest son of the late Lord Randolph Churchill, and inherits many of his father's brilliant qualities. He was born on November 30, 1874, and is therefore only a little over twenty-six years old. He was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst, and entered the Army in 1895. He served with the Spanish forces in Cuba in that year, and saw much Indian service with the Malakand Field Force in 1897; was orderly officer to the late Sir William Lockhart, and was attached to the 21st Lancers with the Nile Expeditionary Force in 1898, and present at the battle of Khartoum. On November 15, 1899, when an armoured train was captured by the Boers at Chieveley, Lieut. Churchill distinguished himself by his bravery; he was taken prisoner and deported to Pretoria, where he remained in prison at the State Model School for many weeks. On January 14 he escaped, and, after enduring very many hardships, he reached Delagoa Bay, and again went to the front.] [Illustration: PRETORIA. Showing in the foreground (above the point marked) the Model Schools where the British officers were imprisoned.] [Sidenote: [NOV. 20-22, 1899.] [Sidenote: Shelling of Mooi River Camp.]