Sometimes the guns were turned from the Wem-
ming Bund upon Sonderborg, and then I could hear
the panting, whirring sound of the shells as they
flew through the sky above our heads, growing
louder first, and then fainter as they passed
onwards, till it ended in a bang and crash as the
bombs came bounding down upon the roofs of
Sonderborg. And sometimes every battery began
firing at once in every direction, till it was
impossible to distinguish anything, or to say more
than that shells were falling and bursting every-
where. Even of the injury done by the bombard-
ment it is hard for an observer to judge, except by



112 THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN WAR.
the indications of the smoke. A shell bursts
amidst the buildings of the town, a crash is heard,
a pillar of smoke rises up into the air, and then
it is over. What walls have fallen, what havoc
has been wrought, even the best of field-glasses will
not inform you. It is only when the fire has
ceased, and you can venture into the scene of the
bombardment, that you can judge of its effect.
Gradually, too, as the shelling goes on, the whole
country becomes enveloped in a canopy of smoke ;
great banks of ink-black clouds gather about the
horizon, against which each successive puff of white,
new-born smoke stands out distinctly, till it floats
away itself and is gathered into the darkness.
