but life is precious (or was then), and one had in a very
literal sense to live. A man had sometimes to stand from six to eight
o'clock in the morning to buy his paltry bit of offal, hoof, or fat, as
the case might be, and after he had rested on his feet for two hours his
turn would come to draw his miserable allowance--if somebody else had
not drawn it for him. Such accidents happened often enough to make a
good many foreswear meat altogether. Usually, however, the unfortunate
would be consoled with a "precedence ticket"--for next day! so that he
could live on the certainty of a succulent morrow. From ten o'clock to
four might be passed in waiting for one's grocery ticket; and, finally,
from four to six could be whiled away at the crowded store in a frantic
effort to catch the State assistant's eye. Oh, it was a happy epoch in
our lives--an epoch during which vows were registered against being "let
in" for such happiness again, or against living it through while a 'bare
bodkin' was left unconfiscated.

It was the last day of the year, with nothing to elate us but the coming
of Bobs. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; ours were so ill that but
for Bobs they must have ceased to beat. It was disconcerting to learn
that Warren was in Natal, for it had been stated that Methuen was merely
waiting Sir Charles to join him ere again attempting to fight his way to
Kimberley.

New Year's Day! New Year's Day, indeed! Our Scotchmen sighed. Black tea
for breakfast on New Year's Day was too much for them, and not a few of
them (and others) felt constrained to take kopje dew instead. They drank
brandy--so labelled in the tavern, but more widely notorious as
"lyddite" in the town. Brandy had crimes committed in its name, and
lyddite was a happy and appropriate appellation. Even _vinegar_ could
not counteract the effects of lyddite (i.e. bottled lyddite). As for the
materials used in the manufacture of this explosive, well--necessity is
the mother of invention; and the invention was well protected. It was
only noted that methylated spirits and certain chemicals were scarce;
and a suspicion prevailed that these were lyddite ingredients--a
suspicion which afterwards proved to be well-founded when publicans were
prosecuted for using them as such. One of the peculiarly lamentable
features of the Siege was a certain tendency on the part of men, who
drank little or nothing in normal times, to dissipate in desperation on
this unique brand