78 Pages - The Black Vault

sixth!!)ream“Sweet are the uses of adversity. ”Once more was I fated to essay the task of defendingl~(lffer’s Drift. This time I had 22 lessons under myt)elt to help me out, and in the oblivion of my dreamI was spared that sense of monotony which by nowInay possibly have overtaken you, “gentle readei”. ”After sending out the patrols, and placing a guard01] Waschout Hill, as already described, and whilstthe stores were being collected, I considered deeplywhat position I should take up, and walked up to thetop of Waschout Hill to spy out the land. On the top Ifound a Kaffir kraal, which I saw would assist melrluch as concealment should I decide to hold thishill. This I was much inclined to do, but after a fewrnir~utes’ trial of the shape of the ground, with thel~elp of some men walking about down below, and myl~yes a little above ground level, I found that its convexitywas such that, to see and fire on the drift andthe approach on the south side, I should have toabandon the top of the hill, and so the friendly cori-