ractors, and almost every
language except that of the Boers could be heard in the corridors.
Occasionally a Boer burgher on leave of absence from the front appeared at
the hotels for a respite from army rations, or to attend the funeral of a
comrade in arms, but the foreigners were always predominant. Across the
street, in the War Department, there were busy scenes when the volunteers
applied for their equipments, and frequently there were stormy actions
when the European tastes of the men were offended by the equipment offered
by the Department officials. Men who desired swords and artistic
paraphernalia for themselves and their horses felt slighted when the scant
but serviceable equipment of a Boer burgher was offered to them, but
sulking could not remedy the matter, and usually they were content to
accept whatever was given to them. Former officers in European armies,
noblemen and even professional men were constantly arriving in the city,
and all seemed to be of the same opinion that commissions in the Boer army
could be had for the asking. Some of these had their minds disabused with
good grace, and went to the field as common burghers; others sulked for
several weeks, but finally joined a commando, and a few returned to their
homes without having heard the report of a gun. For those who chose to
remain behind and enjoy the peacefulness of Pretoria, there was always
enough of novelty and excitement among the foreigners to compensate partly
for missing the events in the field.

The army contractors make their presence felt in all countries which are
engaged in war, and Pretoria was filled with them. They were in the
railway trains running to and from Lorenzo Marques; in the hotel
corridors, in all the Government departments, and everywhere in the city.
A few of the naturalised Boers, who were most denunciatory of the British
before the war and urged their fellow-countrymen to resort to arms,
succeeded in evading the call to the field and were most energetic in
supplying bread and supplies to the Government. Nor was their patriotism
dimmed by many reverses of the army, and they selfishly demanded that the
war should be continued indefinitely. Europeans and Americans who partook
of the protection of the Government in times of peace, were transformed by
war into grasping, insinuating contractors who revelled in the country's
misfortune. Englishmen, unworthy of the name, enriched themselves by
furnishing sinews of war to