At first I thought the enemy must be firing in the streets, so loud were the reports, owing to the atmosphere and the wind setting in a particular direction.

The cause of these volleys was more difficult to discover, and, as our men never replied, it seemed somewhat of a waste of ammunition.

Their original cause was a sortie early in the siege, when Captain Fitzclarence made a night attack with the bayonet on their trenches.

Ever afterwards an animal moving on the veldt, a tree or bush stirred by the wind, an unusual light in the town, was sufficient for volley after volley to be poured at imaginary foes.
By nine o'clock these excitements were usually over, and half an hour afterwards nearly every soul not on duty was asleep, secure in the feeling that for every one who reposed two were on watch; while, as regards Colonel Baden-Powell, he was always prowling about, and the natives revived his old Matabele nickname of "the man that walks by night.".