This was to gain possession of the big 5-inch gun, which is as helpless by night as it is formidable by day.

At Helvetia they attained their object and even succeeded not merely in destroying, but in removing their gigantic trophy.

At Belfast they would have performed the same feat had it not been for the foresight of General Smith-Dorrien, who had the heavy gun trundled back into the town every night.
The attack broke first upon Monument Hill, a post held by Captain Fosbery with eighty-three Royal Irish.

Chance or treason guided the Boers to the weak point of the wire entanglement and they surged into the fort, where the garrison fought desperately to hold its own.

There was thick mist and driving rain; and the rush of vague and shadowy figures amid the gloom was the first warning of the onslaught.