in the City of Unrest.. 158
XV. The Million-Master in the City of Unrest......... 166
XVI. The Woman who works in the City of Unrest........ 175
XVII. The Hou-men of the Dingy City.................... 185
XVIII. Tired............................................ 196
XIX. The City of Dumb Distances....................... 210
XX. The Land of the Evening Calm..................... 217
XXI. With Some Toilers of the Sea..................... 225

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

George Lynch.
Bringing Wounded Back Into Ladysmith.
Advance of the Gordons at Elandslaagte.
Advance of the Devons before the Attack at Elandslaagte.
George Lynch Captured by the Boers.
Boer Shell bursting among the Lancers at Rietfontein.
General French and Staff on Black Monday.
General White and Staff on Black Monday.
Artillery crossing a Drift near Ladysmith.
Naval Brigade passing through Ladysmith.
General Yule's Column on the Way to Ladysmith.
Hospital Train leaving Ladysmith for Pietermaritzburg.
Boer Prisoners.
Japs entering Pekin.
Relief of Pekin.

We are indebted to the courtesy of the Proprietor of _The Illustrated
London News_ for permission to reproduce the illustrations facing
pages 33, 48, 65, 80, 97, 144, 161, 176, and 193, and to the
Proprietor of _The Sphere_ for a similar permission with regard to the
illustrations facing pages 224 and 231.

INTRODUCTION

There are few people in the world who have more opportunity for
getting close to the hot, interesting things of one's time than the
special correspondent of a great paper. He is enabled to see "the
wheels go round;" has the chance of getting his knowledge at first
hand. In stirring times the drama of life is to him like the first
night of a play. There are no preconceived opinions for him to go by;
he ought not to, at least, be influenced by any prejudices; and the
account of the performance is to some extent like that of the dramatic
critic, inasmuch as that the verdict of the public or of history has
either to confirm or reverse his own judgment. There is a peculiar
and unique fascination about this reading of contemporary history, as
it grows and develops while one peers with straining eyes through
one's glasses. There is something like a first night, too, about the
way the critics view things. Sometimes great difference of opinion. I
recollect the afternoon of Nicholson's Nek--Black Monday, as it was
afterwards called--