rass there, while the howitzer and automatic
"pom-pom" shelled them from Surprise Hill. "Pom-poms" are elegant little
shells, about five inches long, and some with pointed heads were
designed for the British Navy, but rejected. The cattle sniff at them
inquisitively, and Kaffirs rush for a perfect specimen, which fetches
from 10s. to 30s. For they are suitable presents for ladies, but
unhappily all that fell near me to-day exploded into fragments.

The telescope on Leicester Post showed me nothing new. Not a single man
was now to be seen on Spion Kop or the rest of Taba Nyama. At two
o'clock the evil news reached us. The heliograph briefly told the
story; the central hill captured by the British on Wednesday afternoon,
recaptured at night by the Boers, and held by them ever since. Our loss
about five hundred and some prisoners.

It was the worst news we have yet received, all the harder to bear
because our hopes had been raised to confidence. It is harder to face
disappointment now than six weeks ago. Even on biscuit and trek-oxen we
can only live for thirty-two days longer, and nearly all the horses must
die. The worst is that in their sickness and pain the men could hardly
resist another assault. The sickness of the garrison is not to be
measured by hospital returns, for nearly every one on duty is ill,
though he may refuse to "go sick." The record of Intombi Camp is not
cheering. The total of military sick to-day is 1,861, including 828
cases of enteric, 259 cases of dysentery, and 312 wounded. The numbers
have slightly diminished lately because an average of fourteen a day
have been dying, and all convalescents are hurried back to Ladysmith.
The number of graves down there now is 282 for men and five for
officers, but deaths increase so fast that long trenches are dug, and
the bodies laid in two rows, one above the other. "You see," said the
gravedigger, "I'm goin' to put Patrick O'Connor here with Daniel
Murphy."

_Sunday, January 28, 1900._

From my station on Observation Hill I could see a new Boer laager drawn
up, about six miles away, at the far end of the Long Valley. Otherwise
all remains quiet and unmoved. Three or four distant guns were heard in
the afternoon, but that was all.

On the whole the spirit of the garrison was much more cheerful. We began
to talk again of possible relief within a week. The heliograph brought a
message of thanks from Lord Roberts for our "heroic, splendid defence."
E