y only killed the oxen, and provided us
with something rational to eat, in spite of the Colonel and his horses.

Friday was all excitement; we had a glimpse of the balloon again,
waltzing at a high altitude in the heavens, the Column's artillery the
while maintaining a continuous uproar. Soon a terrific report was heard,
which was presumed to have been caused by the explosion of a Boer
magazine. A lyddite missile had done the deed; no "common" shell, we
argued, could have created such a noise. After an hour the balloon
disappeared, and we were of the earth earthly once more. Late in the
evening some harmless shells dropped into the streets, and a second
catastrophe befel a Boer magazine.

Saturday again. Lord Methuen proclaimed it through the throat of his
cannon. Long Cecil--pretending to deduce from their silence that the
Boers imagined it to be Sunday--was most profuse in the distribution of
"compliments." But no acknowledgment came back, no error was admitted,
and the day dragged itself to an end, leaving little in its train to
turn one's thoughts from gloomy retrospection.

It was at this time that practical people began to express amazement at
the conduct of their less practical neighbours. A new epidemic had
broken out. The doctrine of self-help was being practised with a
vengeance. The pleasure of gardening was the newest discovery. In short,
the notion of growing vegetables on our own, so to speak, since we could
not buy them readymade, had come to be acclaimed as the higher sagacity.
The curious feature of this departure was that it should grow in
popularity as the Siege approached its appointed end. Relief or no
relief, the vegetables would not be wasted. But the practical people
only laughed at economic platitudes. Vegetable seeds were in great
demand, and families were everywhere to be seen reclaiming their ten by
ten feet patches of common-age--where _half_ a blade of grass had never
grown before! Some enthusiasts, to enlarge their holdings, went even so
far as to pull down their untenanted fowl-houses. The soil was not so
favourable to horticulture as it might have been, but the best was made
of it. Inspired by a determination to live as long as possible we
ruthlessly uprooted our flowers, and conjured up visions of unborn
potatoes and cabbage. If the Military kept whittling down our rations,
if we were to be permitted only to nibble like so many birds, the
vegetables might one day serve as a _dernier r