THE MAUSER RIFLE, USED BY THE BOERS.
The cartridges E are carried in a holder, from which, by one pressure of the thumb, they are released and dispose themselves in proper order in the magazine A. They are pressed upwards by a spring B, and forced, one at a time, into the chamber C by the bolt D. The rifle is sometimes provided with a bayonet, but this the Boers do not carry.
LADYSMITH CAMP AND UMBULWANA.
Assault on the town.
[Nov. 9, 1899.
Nov. 9-15, 1899.] The Armoured Train Disaster.
On the 9th the Boers delivered a half-hearted assault upon Ladysmith, and were repulsed with some loss. The main attack came from the north, and was met by the King's Royal Rifles and the Rifle Brigade. It was never pressed home, as the Boers did not approach within a thousand yards of the British works. They could be seen in all directions just out of range massed for an advance, but the advance was never made. There was a furious interchange of rifle and cannon fire, but little more. The British losses were absurdly small—only three killed and seventeen wounded. To what extent the enemy suffered it was difficult to say, but there is reason to think that the Boer losses were far heavier. When the conflict died away, the naval weapons fired a salute of twenty-one guns in honour of the Prince of Wales' birthday, and the troops sang the National Anthem "to the accompaniment of shrapnel and 100-lb. shells from the Boer guns shrieking through the air." Altogether the result of the fight was such as to make the enemy very chary of attacking our works, and to put fresh spirit into the beleaguered force. On this same day Mr. Kruger threatened that unless a Transvaal spy, named Marks, who had been arrested and confined in Ladysmith, were released, he would execute six British officers. The threat was received with the contempt which it deserved. It appeared that Marks was a member of the Transvaal detective service who had been in Natal gathering information before the war. As such his detention was perfectly justifiable; indeed, in any European struggle he would have been summarily shot.
