thunderstorm and in torrents of rain.

The men had a bad experience on the night of the 29th. The rain flooded
their bivouacs, and the morning found blankets and clothes floating
about in the water in the trenches. Later on, however, the weather
cleared, the sun came out, and everything was soon dried.

[Illustration: After a Wet Night in the Traverses, Ladysmith]

At the latter end of December marksmen were sent out daily to the
hill-tops some 1000 yards in front of the line of forts to act as
countersnipers to the Boers, who continually fired at the grazing
guards. One man was hit twice in one day by a Boer sniper, but only
slightly wounded. It would appear from a letter written by a Boer that
these marksmen made it very uncomfortable for the Boer snipers. In the
letter, which was afterwards published in a Boer newspaper, the
correspondent, writing to a friend in Pretoria, said: "I and my two
comrades went out this morning to fire into the English position. We had
only just got to our hiding-place when one of my comrades was shot dead;
shortly after, my other comrade was badly wounded, and I lay down and
hid the whole day till dark, when I got back to the laager." This would
go to prove that, comparing him with the Boer, the British infantry
soldier is not such a duffer with his weapon as some of those in
authority were in the habit of asserting.

There was a good deal of musketry fire whilst the scouts were out, and
it was supposed that shots were being exchanged with the Boer snipers;
but when the marksmen, who were posted on the hills near the Orange Free
State Junction Station and just above the abandoned piggery, came back
with portions of the carcasses of pigs, it was evident that all the