There must be a good heavy
charge under the rifle trucks, for we shall have to blow them all well
into the air to bend and damage them enough to be altogether
unserviceable. As for the guns, and especially the heavy ones, it is a
difficult question. Of course, if we could open the cases and get at the
breech-pieces, and put dynamite among them, we could damage all the
mechanism so much that the guns would be useless until new breech-pieces
were made, which I fancy must be altogether beyond the Boers; but as
there is no possibility of opening them, we must trust to blowing the
guns so high in the air that they will be too much damaged for use by
the explosion and fall. We have got altogether two hundredweight; now
two pounds to each ammunition waggon will take twelve pounds. What shall
we say for the rifles?"
"Ten pounds," Brown suggested.
"That would take eighty more pounds," Willesden objected, "which would
make a big hole in our stores."
"We must have a good charge," Chris said. "Suppose we say nine pounds to
each, that will save eight pounds; fifteen pounds apiece ought to give
the eight cases which we suppose hold field-guns a good hoist; that will
leave us with over a hundred pounds, fifty for each of the big guns.
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