I NOW impressed upon my officers as forcibly as I
could the importance of intercepting the commu-
nications of the enemy by blowing up their trains. A
mechanical device had been thought of, by which this
could be done. The barrel and lock of a gun, in con-
nexion with a dynamite cartridge, were placed under
a sleeper, so that when a passing engine pressed the
rail on to this machine, it exploded, and the train was
blown up. It was terrible to take human lives in
such a manner; still, however fearful, it was not con-
trary to the rules of civilized warfare, and we were en-
tirely within our rights in obstructing the enemy's lines
of communication in this manner.

Owing to this, the English were obliged to place
many more thousands of soldiers along the railway
line, in order to keep the track clear. Even then,
the trains, for a considerable time, could not run by
night. The English soon discovered how we arranged
these explosions, and the guards carefully inspected
the lines each day to find out if one of these ma-
chines had been placed beneath the rails. We knew
that one had been found and removed, whenever we
saw a train pass over the spot without being blown
up. This, however, only made us more careful. We
went to the spot which we had fixed upon for the
explosion, hollowed out the gravel, placed the ma-
chine under the sleeper, and covered it up again, throw-
ing the gravel that was left to a good distance from
the line. After this, the guards could not discover
where the machine was placed. They trebled the
troops on the line in consequence.

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