the Town Guard running from their respective homes
and churches to the Town Hall, and thence, in orderly squads of four,
with grim and stern faces, to the redoubts. Non-combatants, in
compliance with the proclamation, went reluctantly to their houses.
Tram-loads of scared women and nonchalant babies were hurried in from
Beaconsfield. The streets were soon deserted. There was no panic; but
many a poor woman felt that the life of a husband, a father, a lover, or
a brother was in jeopardy, and many a fervent prayer went up to heaven.

The battle, however, did not begin. Large commandoes of Boers had been
seen hovering about, and by boastful display had given us the impression
that they purposed attacking the city. It was merely display; the wily
Boer did not yet mean business. He eventually betook himself to coffee
as a more profitable way of spending the afternoon. Late in the evening
the Town Guard entertained some similar ideas with respect to tea, and
were permitted to go home and drink it there.

Next morning, the armoured train was out early; but the Boers discreetly
connived at its effrontery--having, doubtless, still in their minds
unpleasant recollections of its volley-firing. At Modder river, twenty
miles away, the enemy, it was said, were making prisoners of inoffensive
persons, and blowing up the bridge. Bridges seem to have been their pet
aversions everywhere. At Slipklip one was blown sky-high; and artistic
skill was displayed in the picturesque wreck that was made of Windsorton
Road Station.

The town, preparing for anything that might happen, presented a scene of
bustle and confusion. What with strengthening and extending the defence
works, levelling native locations (which might possibly prove
advantageous to the Boers as a cover), and finding new homes for the
evicted, Kimberley looked a stirring place--though train and telegraph
services were suspended.

The ranks of the Town Guard were being augmented daily; fresh men were
coming up in batches to be "sworn in." There was no medical examination,
nor any such bother. Anybody in trousers was eligible for a hat, a
bandolier, and a rifle; and lads in their teens affected one-and-twenty
with the _sang froid_ of one-and-forty. Camp life, and, mayhap, a little
fighting, would be a novelty--for three weeks. Certain employers were at
first disposed to keep their employees exclusively to the work they
engaged them to perform; but the most obtuse among the capt