Over the river upon the hill was a single British brigade, exposed to the fire of one enormous gun--a 96-pound Creusot, the longest of all Long Toms--which was stationed upon Doornkloof, and of several smaller guns and pom-poms which spat at them from nooks and crevices of the hills.
On our side were seventy-two guns, large and small, all very noisy and impotent.

It is not too much to say, as it appears to me, that the Boers have in some ways revolutionised our ideas in regard to the use of artillery, by bringing a fresh and healthy common-sense to bear upon a subject which had been unduly fettered by pedantic rules.

The Boer system is the single stealthy gun crouching where none can see it.

The British system is the six brave guns coming into action in line of full interval, and spreading out into accurate dressing visible to all men.
'Always remember,' says one of our artillery maxims, 'that one gun is no gun.' Which is prettier on a field-day, is obvious, but which is business--let the many duels between six Boer guns and sixty British declare.

With black powder it was useless to hide the gun, as its smoke must betray it.