To disable one's adversary is a painful necessity of warfare, but nothing can excuse the wilful mutilation and torture which is inflicted by these brutal devices.
'How many of you are there ?' asked Botha.

'A hundred,' said an officer.
'It is not true.

There are one hundred and twenty.

I counted you as you came along.' The answer of the Boer leader shows how carefully the small force had been nursed until it was in an impossible position.

The margin was a narrow one, however, for within fifteen minutes of the disaster White's guns were at work.