the slope overlooking the plain, from which we watched the development
of the infantry attack.

I usually carry a note-book and pencil in my pocket, partly to jot down
any information one may pick up at farms from Kaffirs, &c., and partly
to make notes in of the things I see. Here is a note from the kraal.

"10 A.M.--There is a wide plain in front of me, four miles across, flat
as the sea, and all along the farther side a line of kopjes and hills
rising like reefs and detached islands out of it. You might think the
plain was empty at first glance, but, if you look hard, you will see it
crawling with little khaki-clad figures, dotted all over it; not packed
anywhere, but sprinkled over the whole surface. They are steadily but
very leisurely converging on the largest end hill of the opposite range.
Meantime, from three or four spots along the sides of those hills, locks
and puffs of white smoke float out, followed at long intervals by deep,
sonorous reports; and if you look to the left a bit, where our naval
guns are at work, you will see the Boer shells bursting close to or over
them. The artillery duet goes on between the two, while still the
infantry, unmolested as yet, crawls and crawls towards those hills."

This is our first sight of an infantry attack, and it doesn't impress me
at first at all. Its cold-bloodedness, the absence of all excitement,
make it so different from one's usual notions of a battle. It is really
difficult to believe that those little, sauntering figures are
"delivering an attack." They don't look a bit as if they were going to
fight. The fact is, they have a long distance to cover before reaching
the hills, and must go fairly slow. Accordingly, you see them strolling
leisurely along as if nothing particular were happening; while the hills
themselves, except for the occasional puffs of smoke, look; quite bare