When it had soaked long enough, he extracted the fuse and proceeded to knock out the powder with a hammer.

Then the nasty thing exploded in his face, and he lost one eye and is otherwise a good deal cut about.
In the afternoon I rode out again to the howitzers on Waggon Hill.

The 6 in.

gun which they command from their invisible station has not fired for six days.

The Boer gunners dare not set it to work for fear of the 85lb.