ne. Through the long, sweltering day the men
wrought and perspired. Many a missile hissed near them; many a risk they
ran; but they went on doing their duty with unflinching devotion. What
was chivalrous in their nature was stirred, and the good, latent in most
men, shone out brilliantly in all. The ladies acknowledged it freely.
Unexpected little dainties--sent down in the "Lift"--were supplied them
to strengthen their toleration of a home in a warm corner. Baskets, with
the "compliments" of Mr. Rhodes, bunches of grapes, more precious (and
softer, too) than the encrusted gems around, were relished down in the
mines and worth going still deeper for.

The horrisonous whiz of the ostrich eggs from Kamfers Dam was heard
again, and back to the "Lift" flew the ladies. Not a few preferred to
wait until 'night was again descending' to descend along with it. One or
two sturdy amazons refused point blank to be terrorised into descending
at all; they expressed a preference for surface risks. This attitude was
not by any means unintelligible. The babel down below was incessantly
audible; as was the subdued roar of machinery; the heated competition
entailed in the pegging out of claims; the high words excited by the
petty larceny of pilferers who borrowed utensils to break, or keep as
souvenirs. Yet no wayward fragment of shell contributed its quota to
the perpetual din of gem-land. Better still, no exterior sound could be
_heard_; no boom, no faint intonation of the shocks that blighted the
earth's surface ever ruffled its centre. It was the solitary advantage
the centre (as a residence) had over the surface; but it was a
substantial advantage, though rather testily appreciated.

The town was as hushed as a cemetery; and it was not easy to gather
knowledge of the damage done, or of its extent. The hospital was the
recipient of a grant-in-aid, which a gentleman resident in its vicinity
participated in--his face getting chopped by some startled pebbles. One
young lady who had left the mine, who could better hear the shells above
than the confusion of tongues below, was penalised with a gash--happily
slight. A little boy was wounded in the leg. A number of empty houses
were battered; and the headgear of the "Kimberley Mine" was hit by a
passing missile, which occasioned not a little consternation among the
families who, finding no room at the bottom, were quartered at the top
of the shaft. The Opera House was again struck; and at th