Artillery of heavy calibre was utilised to enliven the process--with
what result the world knows.

And how were we prepared to meet the attentions of this well-equipped
and watchful enemy? We had a few seven-pound guns capable of hurling
walnuts that cracked thousands of yards short of the Boer positions; and
a Maxim or two, respected by the enemy, but easily steered clear of. Of
what avail were these against the potent engines of destruction on the
other side? And as for men; with great difficulty, and by dint of much
pressure, the authorities had been persuaded to send us five hundred (of
the North Lancashire Regiment, and Royal Engineers) under command of
Colonel Kekewich (who constituted himself Czar, in the name of the
Queen)--a small total with which to defend a city--"a large, straggling
city, thirteen miles in circumference," as Lord Roberts subsequently
observed, that he could hardly have thought it possible to defend so
long and so successfully with the forces at our command, that is to
say, with five thousand men; for such was the strength of the garrison
when the shop boys, the clerks, the merchants, and the artisans had
stepped into the gap with their rifles.

In anticipation of trouble, a Town Guard had already been formed when
the Federal forces invaded the Cape. The noisy and discordant hooters of
the mines were to signal the approach of the foe, and to intimate to the
members of the Guard that they were to proceed to the redoubts of their
respective Sections to prepare a greeting. Over at the Sanatorium,
facing the suburb of Beaconsfield, the movements of the enemy were being
closely watched. A conning tower soared high above the De Beers mine,
from which coign of vantage a keen eye swept the horizon for signs of
their advance. At the Reservoir, a look-out was on the _qui vive_. The
Infantry were encamped in a central position, ready for instant despatch