that the man of intelligence and initiative and ability and energy
was fast in the clutches of the Red Tape spider, which fussed round him
until he was enveloped in the scarlet web and impotent to use brains or
energy. Engineering is one of the few things of which corporate bodies
admit their ignorance; therefore the sappers got through much admirable
work quietly and quickly.

The approach to Kimberley with its mine shafts and hills of blue dust
reminded me of the Black Country. What one noticed first with regard to
the town was the number of holes and shelters and warrens into which
people had crept for safety. Hundreds of them, like human anthills; and
one thought, What strange place is this, where men fear to walk upright?
The menu at the principal hotel, where I dined, would (if it had been
printed) have consisted of one item--horseflesh. I noticed that the
residents ate it eagerly, and even talked about it; but most of us
strangers arose hungry and went quickly into the fresh air.

That night and the next morning I walked through the town and talked to
people who had been living there; and it was when I talked to the people
that I began to realise what had been happening. The few ruined
buildings and riddled walls conveyed little to me. But when one found
man after man thin, listless, and (in spite of the joy of salvation)
dispirited; talking with a tired voice and hopeless air, and with a
queer, shifty, nervous, scared look in the eye, one began to understand.

The thing was scarcely human, scarcely of this world. These men were not
like oneself. If you threaten an inexperienced boxer with a quick play
of fists on every side of his head, even though you never touch him, you
may completely demoralise him; he shies at every feint and every
movement. And these people had been in a situation comparable with that
of the poor boxer. Think of it. The signal from the conning tower, the
clamour of bells and whistles, the sudden silence amongst the people,
the rush for shelter, and then the hum and roar, like wind in a chimney,
of the huge iron cylinder flying through the air, potent for death. And
then, perhaps, the noise of a falling building, or the scream of some
human creature who is nothing but a mass of offence when you come up
five seconds later. Think of this repeated six or seven--sometimes sixty
or seventy--times during the daylight hours, and can you wonder that men
should lose their placid manners and scuttle