wine, he went as fast and as far as he could to the front, which was now in ladysmith, south of pretoria. by the time he arrived, however, the boers had completely cut off ladysmith. no one could get in or out. i was too late, churchill wrote dismally, the door was shut. so he was forced to make camp 40 miles south of ladysmith in a little town called escort. nine days later, as a heavy rain fell on the morning of november 15, churchill climbed aboard the british army's armored train. his old friend from his days in the military had been ordered to take the train out for reconnaissance. both men knew that it was a foolish, potentially disastrous decision. not only was the train an easy target on the best of days, but the boers had been spotted just outside of escort only the day before. holden had no choice but to go. churchill, on the other hand, did. but frustrated, restless, and he would later admit, eager for trouble, he did not hesitate for a moment when holden invited him to go along. before the sun came up that morning, churchill had climbed into the first train car and open truck