still that
it almost seemed as if Nature stood still also. We who looked on were
almost afraid to breathe.

Then suddenly, without, so far as I could see, any fugleman or word of
command, the handjars of all that mighty array of men flashed upward as
one, and like thunder pealed the National cry:

"The Blue Mountains and Duty!"

After the cry there was a strange subsidence which made the onlooker rub
his eyes. It seemed as though the whole mass of fighting men had
partially sunk into the ground. Then the splendid truth burst upon
us--the whole nation was kneeling at the feet of their chosen King, who
stood upright.

Another moment of silence, as King Rupert, taking off his crown, held it
up in his left hand, and, holding his great handjar high in his right,
cried in a voice so strong that it came ringing over that serried mass
like a trumpet:

"To Freedom of our Nation, and to Freedom within it, I dedicate these and
myself. I swear!"

So saying, he, too, sank on his knees, whilst we all instinctively
uncovered.

The silence which followed lasted several seconds; then, without a sign,
as though one and all acted instinctively, the whole body stood up.
Thereupon was executed a movement which, with all my experience of
soldiers and war, I never saw equalled--not with the Russian Royal Guard
saluting the Czar at his Coronation, not with an impi of Cetewayo's Zulus
whirling through the opening of a kraal.

For a second or two the whole mass seemed to writhe or shudder, and then,
lo! the whole District Divisions were massed again in completeness, its
Councillors next the King, and the Divisions radiating outwards down the
hill like wedges.

This completed the ceremony, and everything broke up into units. Later,
I was told by my official friend that the King's last movement--the oath
as he sank to his knees--was an innovation of his own. All I can say is,
if, in the future, and for all time, it is not taken for a precedent, and
made an important part of the Patriotic Coronation ceremony, the Blue
Mountaineers will prove themselves to be a much more stupid people than
they seem at present to be.

The conclusion of the Coronation festivities was a time of unalloyed joy.
It was the banquet given to the King and Queen by the nation; the guests
of the nation were included in the royal party. It was a unique
ceremony. Fancy a picnic-party of a hundred thousand persons, nearly all
men. There must have been made