By George W Steevens

Edited by Vernon Blackburn
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London

Author of 'With Kitchener to Khartum,' 'In India,' etc., etc.

Contents

I. FIRST GLIMPSES OF THE STRUGGLE.  First impressions—Denver with a dash of Delhi—Government House—The Legislative Assembly—A wrangling debate—A demonstration of the unemployed—The menace of coming war

II. THE ARMY CORPS—HAS NOT LEFT ENGLAND! A little patch of white tents—A dream of distance—The desert of the Karroo—War at last—A campaign without headquarters—Waiting for the Army Corps

III. A PASTOR'S POINT OF VIEW.  An ideal of Arcady—Rebel Burghersdorp—Its monuments—Dopper theology—An interview with one of its professors

IV. WILL IT BE CIVIL WAR? On the border of the Free State—An appeal to the Colonial Boers—The beginning of warlike rumours—A commercial and social boycott—The Boer secret service—The Basutos and their mother, the Queen—Boer brutality to Kaffirs

V. LOYAL ALIWAL: A TRAGI-COMEDY.  The Cape Police—A garrison of six men—Merry-go-rounds and naphtha flares—A clamant want of fifty men—Where are the troops?—"It'll be just the same as it was in '81"

VI. THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE.  French's reconnaissance—An artillery duel—Beginning of the attack—Ridge after ridge—A crowded half-hour

VII. THE BIVOUAC.  A victorious and helpless mob—A break-neck hillside—Bringing down the wounded—A hard-worked doctor—Boer prisoners—Indian bearers—An Irish Highlander in trouble

VIII. THE HOME-COMING FROM DUNDEE.  Superfluous assistance—A smiling valley—The Border Mounted Rifles—A rain-storm—A thirty-two miles' march—How the troops came into Ladysmith

IX. THE STORY OF NICHOLSON'S NEK. An attenuated mess—A regiment 220 strong—A miserable story—The white flag—Boer kindness—Ashamed for England

X. THE GUNS AT RIETFONTEIN.  A column on the move—The nimble guns—Garrison gunners at work—The veldt on fire—Effective shrapnel—The value of the engagement

XI. THE BOMBARDMENT.  Long Tom—A family of harmless monsters—Our inferiority in guns—The sensations of a bombardment—A little custom blunts sensibility

XII. THE DEVIL'S TIN-TACKS.  The excitement of a rifle fusilade—A six-hours' fight—The picking off of officers—A display of infernal fireworks—"God bless the Prince of Wales"

XIII. A DIARY OF DULNESS.  The mythopœic faculty—A miserable day—The voice of the pompom—Learning the Boer game—The end of Fiddling Jimmy—Melinite at close quarters—A lake of mud

XIV. NEARING THE END.  Dulness interminable—Ladysmith in 2099 A.D.—Sieges obsolete hardships—Dead to the world—The appalling features of a bombardment

XV. IN A CONNING-TOWER.  The self-respecting bluejacket—A German atheist—The sailors' telephone—What the naval guns meant to Ladysmith—The salt of the earth 134

The Last Chapter By Vernon Blackburn

Illustrations

Map of the country round Ladysmith
gallery1
Map Illustrating the seat of war in South Africa
gallery1