On this occasion, however, the Boers had undertaken a task which was beyond their strength.  The troops at Wepener were one thousand seven hundred in number, and formidable in quality.  The place had been occupied by part of Brabant’s Colonial division, consisting of hardy irregulars, men of the stuff of the defenders of Mafeking.  Such men are too shrewd to be herded into an untenable position and too valiant to surrender a tenable one.  The force was commanded by a dashing soldier, Colonel Dalgety, of the Cape Mounted Rifles, as tough a fighter as his famous namesake.  There were with him nearly a thousand men of Brabant’s Horse, four hundred of the Cape Mounted Rifles, four hundred Kaffrarian Horse, with some scouts, and one hundred regulars, including twenty invaluable Sappers.  They were strong in guns—­two seven-pounders, two naval twelve-pounders, two fifteen-pounders and several machine guns.  The position which they had taken up, Jammersberg, three miles north of Wepener, was a very strong one, and it would have taken a larger force than De Wet had at his disposal to turn them out of it.  The defence had been arranged by Major Cedric Maxwell, of the Sappers; and though the huge perimeter, nearly eight miles, made its defence by so small a force a most difficult matter, the result proved how good his dispositions were.

At the same time, the Boers came on with every confidence of victory, for they had a superiority in guns and an immense superiority in men.  But after a day or two of fierce struggle their attack dwindled down into a mere blockade.  On April 9th they attacked furiously, both by day and by night, and on the 10th the pressure was equally severe.  In these two days occurred the vast majority of the casualties.  But the defenders took cover in a way to which British regulars have not yet attained, and they outshot their opponents both with their rifles and their cannon.  Captain Lukin’s management of the artillery was particularly skilful.  The weather was vile and the hastily dug trenches turned into ditches half full of water, but neither discomfort nor danger shook the courage of the gallant colonials.  Assault after assault was repulsed, and the scourging of the cannon was met with stolid endurance.  The Boers excelled all their previous feats in the handling of artillery by dragging two guns up to the summit of the lofty Jammersberg, whence they fired down upon the camp.  Nearly all the horses were killed and three hundred of the troopers were hit, a number which is double that of the official return, for the simple reason that the spirit of the force was so high that only those who were very severely wounded reported themselves as wounded at all.  None but the serious cases ever reached the hands of Dr. Faskally, who did admirable work with very slender resources.  How many the enemy lost can never be certainly known, but as they pushed home several attacks it is impossible to imagine that their losses were less than those