ss for the
grill. But the people generally never thought of that, and were mainly
influenced in their judgments by the spareness or fleshiness of the
animal's hindquarters. On Saturday the atmosphere was thick with rumours
of imminent trouble. The precise terms of the Boer ultimatum we did not
know, but that an ultimatum had been received was not denied. We heard
of a fifty-pound gun (bigger than ours!) being put into position on the
Free State border--with a view to instilling in us the wisdom of
recognising the inevitable. The less formidable instruments of torture
nearer home were also being augmented. There was a feeling that events
of an uncommon character were on the march. People talked of
presentiments--one being that the Baralongs outside Kimberley were being
armed to assist in our annihilation. The much debated topic anent the
likelihood of the Sixth Division being sent to join Methuen was settled
at last--to our chagrin. It had gone off at a tangent somewhere else.
Who knew that the Seventh Division would not follow suit? In any case,
weeks had to pass before the Seventh (being still at sea) could get
anywhere. Our prospects of speedy liberation were therefore none too
excellent. The Empire was passing through a crisis, and if Kekewich had
had only the statesmanship to make known to us the truth, the plain
unvarnished truth, we might have been less captious in our criticisms of
things both local and Imperial. Even the new gun, in common with the
times, was out of joint and undergoing repairs at the workshop.

Nutritious food of any sort was now a rarity in real earnest. Eggs were
hard at a price per dozen that purchased a _gross_ in the not too cheap
days of peace; while ducks and drakes, no bigger than crows, but worth
their weight in diamonds, were too heavy for the patrons of paste. The
military people had an extensive variety of precious birds stuffed away
_in_ their own selected aviaries. They had also seized upon all the
cigarettes in town. Now, this was held up as a well-grounded and
specific grievance against the military. It was conceded that the sick
and wounded had first claim on our humanity; and the chicken monopoly,
had it stood alone, would not have invited criticism. But the cigarette
appropriation was reckoned a scandal. There was an abundance of matches
in the military stores--but nowhere else. The tobacconists were selling
off, at quadrupled rates, quantities of ancient, nasty-smelling
"saf