CHAPTER X.
ENNUI ENLIVENED BY SUDDEN DEATH LADYSMITH, _November 15, 1899_.
This drama is getting too long for the modern stage, and so far the Dutch have obeyed none of the dramatic rules.

To-day was one monotony of rain, and may be blotted out from the memory of all but the men who lay hour after hour miserably soaking upon the edges of the hills.

After the early morning not a shell was fired.

The mist was too thick to allow even of wild shots at the town.
I had another try at getting a Kaffir runner to carry a telegram through to Estcourt.
_November 16, 1899._ The sun came back to cheer us up and warm our bones.

At the Liverpools' picket, on the Newcastle road, the men at six o'clock were rejoicing in a glorious and soapy wash where the rain had left a pool in a quarry.
The day passed very quietly, shells only falling on an average of one every half-hour.