Luckily,
an attack had been expected, and stone sangars and shelters of ox-wagons
had been made and further protected by biscuit boxes and bags of flour
and sugar from the stores the men were guarding. Nevertheless the Boer
attack seemed to have every chance in its favour; their guns were in
safe positions 2,400 yards from the camp, and along the river banks they
could creep close up to the defenders. Hore's old seven-pounder, though
it succeeded in silencing a Boer gun, and killed a German gunner, was
very capricious in its working, and was obviously no match for the Boer
guns. The thousands of horses and oxen which were in the camp under no
sort of cover were nearly all killed on the first day by the Boer
shells; and the stench arising from these dead animals in the narrow
camp makes it almost marvellous that the men who escaped the Boer shells
were not killed by pestilence. Moreover, the only chance of getting
water was to take the water carts down to the river at night, and then
the drivers and escort were not always safe.
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