with the enemy.

During the night of December the 7th, "Long Tom," the big Transvaal gun,
which had been placed on Bulwana Hill, had been so seriously damaged by
dynamite, that it had to remain out of action for some time. We all
admitted that the English on that occasion acted with great skill and
prudence, and that the courage of their leaders deserved every praise.
Yet, if we had only been on our guard, we might have beaten off the
storming party; but they had caught us unawares. Nevertheless, the
mishap taught us a useful lesson: henceforth the Transvaal Commandants
were more strict, and their increased severity had an excellent effect
both on the burghers and gunners.

General Sir Redvers Buller had landed at Cape Town early in November. We
were now expecting every day to hear that he had assumed the chief
command over the English army encamped between Estcourt and Colenso. The
number of troops there was continually increasing owing to the
reinforcements which kept pouring in from over the ocean.

Great things were expected of Sir Redvers Buller, to whom the Boers, by
a play of words, had given a somewhat disrespectful nick-name. He had
not been long in Natal before his chance came. I must, however, be
silent about his successes and his failures, for, as I left Natal on the
9th of December, I had no personal experience of his methods. But this I
will say, that whatever his own people have to say to his discredit, Sir
Redvers Buller had to operate against stronger positions than any other
English general in South Africa.

[Footnote 15: A table-shaped mountain.]