With an army of Boers at their gates and 50,000 riotous blacks in their midst, the odds against success would have been too heavy--even if the whole town had been armed.

With only 2,500 rifles in the place, they stood really no chance.
To me, the military problems of the situation are of more interest than the political ones, because by disposition I have always been especially fond of war.

No, I mean fond of discussing war; and fond of giving military advice.

If I had been with Jameson the morning after he started, I should have advised him to turn back.

That was Monday; it was then that he received his first warning from a Boer source not to violate the friendly soil of the Transvaal.