f fodder, besides, with which to
"fatten" beasts. All this gammon respecting Continental precedent and
taste was beside the question; it only invited gratuitous vituperation
of the French nation. An ugly feature of the traffic was suggested by
the fact that horses were dying from sheer starvation. The Sanitary
Authorities had become experts in the use of the revolvers with which
they expedited the demise of the poor beasts. Everybody has doubtless
known of the repulsion one feels against partaking of the flesh of a cow
that dies a _natural_ death. All of us, perhaps, have unconsciously
relished it at one time or another, when butchers were above suspicion.
But when it was a question of a horse--well, I will not conjure up the
horror of the situation. The horses used for food were all
_slaughtered_; but the suspicion existed that they might not have been,
and to lay the bogey in minds governing old-fashioned stomachs was not
easy. These old Whigs argued that the meat we ate was "dead" meat, from
"dead" animals (which was indisputable). All this apart, however, it was
manifest even to the devil-may-care fellows who are usually satisfied
with _enough_ of a thing, that the horses were "too thin." The
Authorities kept inviting owners to sell their beasts for "slaughtering
purposes"; good prices were offered for "fat horses." Advertisements
(in huge capitals) to this effect disfigured our newspaper for a long
while, and though we did not regard it as such it was a nice piece of
humour. The "fat" horses were all too few for fighting, and were
reserved for fighting. The artfulness of "slaughtering purposes" can be
appreciated accordingly.

Wednesday was interesting, Colonel Chamier having persuaded Kekewich to
let him off on a little expedition. He took with him a small battery of
guns, a picked force of mounted men (on "fat" horses), and wended his
way towards Alexandersfontein. On the journey he divided his force and
left half of it with a Maxim at a Mr. Fenn's farm. The jolly Boers had
evidently, and not unnaturally, assumed that they had cured us of our
weakness for meanderings. An attack was the last thing they looked for,
and Chamier got well within range of the great camp unobserved. And then
the battle began. The enemy, taken by surprise, suffered much in their
efforts to regain their trenches. In the meantime a large party of Boers
from a neighbouring arc of the circle that encompassed Kimberley were
endeavouring to cu