though not certainly known, was vaguely suspected in
Ladysmith, where the silence of Sunday sounded ominous. The spirits of
the now famishing garrison sank accordingly. One among them writes:
"The ending has been strange. On Monday, February 26, the garrison was
sunk in a slough of despondency. On the previous Thursday General
Buller had signalled from below in such confident language that the
force had been placed upon full rations. Then, day by day, we had
watched for some sign of the promised relief. Daily the guns had
boomed, and occasionally we had caught a glimpse of the burst of an
'accidental,' but nothing more. Heavy weather had settled upon us and
had blinded the little winking reflector on Monte Cristo Hill. On
Sunday the relieving force must have been engaged in a night attack,
for the sound of volley firing {p.299} was distinctly audible in
Ladysmith. Then came a day of silence. The helio was veiled in cloud,
and there were no sounds of war. The spirits of the garrison fell.
Grave rumours circulated. Men even said that for the third time the
relief column had recrossed the Tugela. Monday brought a wave of hope,
for at midday there was a gleam of sunshine, and we learned the news
that Cronje had been surrounded in the Free State. Still there was no
news from Buller's column. It was evident that the staff were also
becoming anxious, for although the following day brought the news that
Cronje had surrendered, yet the evening saw the garrison again reduced
to quarter rations. This was only a precautionary measure, for Buller
had helioed 'everything progressing favourably.' But the man in the
street was sceptical. If favourable, why reduce the ration? Thus it
was that Tuesday, Majuba Day--although on that date the tide of
fortune had turned in our favour--marked the lowest pitch of
despondency into which the garrison was ever plunged during the 118
days of its investment."[40]

[Footnote 40: London _Weekly Times_, March 30,
1900.]

The {p.300} end of their sufferings, however, was really at hand.
Buller's telegram of February 28 announcing the success of the next
operation, states also its character. "Finding that the passage of
Langewachte Spruit (the scene of the fighting on the 23rd and 24th)
was commanded by strong entrenchments, I reconnoitred for another
passage of the Tugela. One was found for me below the cataract by
Colonel Sandbach, Royal Engineers.... On the 26t