orious news; and when men on the conning
tower were observed to cheer frantically, wave hand-kerchiefs, and
gesticulate insanely, our flinty nature humbly condescended to soften.
When all in turn beheld the huge body of cavalry drawing nearer and
nearer to Kimberley, the tears began to roll and the pent-up emotion of
four weary months was freely given way to! From verandahs, from windows,
redoubts, and debris heaps the roars of welcome were sent across the
veld. Advance-stragglers, exhausted and travel-stained, presently
arrived, to have their buttons cut off their coats, the feathers plucked
from their hats, their arms wrenched from their sockets, and to be
hugged with merciless and enervating tenderness in the wild paroxysm of
an ultra-Irish _cead mile failte!_ The Siege was raised! The suspense
and sorrow were over! The lowering, ever-darkening cloud had
broken--turned inside out to dazzle with the sheen of its lining our
unaccustomed eyes. We were free again; to revel in pastry and jam, and
ham and eggs, in chops and steaks, in mealies, butter, bread, and _pate
de foie gras_; at liberty to drink, to mix our drinks, to risk "swelled
head" and indigestion if we so willed, as we most certainly did. It was
over; we had fought a good fight; and in the conviction that it was
worth going through it all for the ineffable delight of the final
emergence we sent our hats into the air with an abandon and disregard of
the proprieties that was very, very rude.

The Siege was raised! by French--not Methuen; Codlin was the friend, not
Short! The enthusiasm never slackened, and when late in the afternoon
the General with some of his officers visited the Kimberley Club, the
climax was reached. Cheer after cheer rent the air and shook the trees.
The hand-shaking crusade shook the spheres. Nine o'clock struck; but
much we cared; the warning notes had lost their terrors; they startled
not the joyous groups crowding the streets, laughing, whistling,
singing, crying, dancing, or hilariously toasting French (in the
saloons) on Siege soda-water! Not the least pathetic feature of it all
was the length and wryness of our deliverers' faces when they sought to
buy refreshments--a tin of something--cup of anything--and the loud
laugh that spake the vacant wares of the gay _restaurateur_ as he
brokenly explained the Permit Law with all its "tape" and pomps. The
exodus from the mines was necessarily slow, and midnight had long passed
ere the last