ir soup; they were harder still for those whom the look of it
satisfied. To these latter a tribute of praise for consistency is due,
whatever may be said of their sense. The pathos of it all was that we
got plenty of tea. We had no milk, and because we needed in consequence
all the more sugar we were given less; and as "mealie-pap" had pride of
place on the _menu_ the day's allowance of sugar was only too apt to be
recklessly monopolised in giving _that_ a taste. We were observing a
protracted lenten season, a more rigorous fast than any Church
prescribes. The local Catholic Bishop appreciated the gravity of the
situation when he suspended the Church's law against the use of meat on
Fridays. Eat it when you can (which might be only one day in the week,
Friday as likely as any other), this edict amounted to in effect.

But we had yet fourteen ounces of bread to preserve us, the whole of
which ration was sometimes polished off by mid-day meal time. There
could be no modification in that direction. Fourteen ounces of bread was
needed to sustain life. But the Military apparently thought otherwise;
they suddenly intimated that we must endeavour to keep its lamp aflame
on "ten!" The _Commissariat_ reckoned it possible; so the new "Law" was
set in motion without compunction. A number of Fingoes preferred to die
at home for choice, and with leave of the Colonel made an effort to get
there. Unhappily, they were not allowed a choice; the Boers drove them
back "to die with the English." Unlike the Basutos, the Fingo tribe was
not physically or geographically in a position to make reprisals for
such indignities. Besides, the English, the Boers knew, would be bound
to share their last crust with their black brethren, and they wanted us
to get to the last crust stage at our earliest convenience.

Contrary to expectation, nothing exciting occurred on Tuesday. The enemy
again concentrated their fire on the _Sanatorium_; they evidently
esteemed starvation, however expedient as a means for shuffling off the
common herd, a little too good for a thinker in Continents. According to
documents which had been found in the pocket of a Boer prisoner, Mr.
Rhodes was awaiting a favourable opportunity to escape in "a big
balloon!" This strange idea may have been responsible for the efforts
made to lay the great balloonist.

A cricket match was played in the afternoon by twenty-two disciples of
Tapley; and sundry flashes of congratulation--adulator