And when later in the day a drove of half a hundred oxen, horses, and mules, with their forage behind them, entered Kimberley they were greeted with a tumult of applause never meted out to royal pageant or conquering biped coming!  A little whiskey, it was said, had been unearthed; but there was no evidence, circumstantial or oscillatory, to confirm this.  Minor windfalls in the way of half-sovereigns, five pound notes, Kruger coins, and trousers buttons had also been picked up and appropriated as a matter of course.

When Major Rodger had officially apprised the Colonel of his glorious victory, gyps and re-inforcements were immediately despatched to assist in the holding of the acquired position.  It was soon strongly garrisoned, and though theatrical preparations for its recovery were not wanting, no serious attempt was made to re-take it.  From the adjacent ridges (a mile off) an odd shell came hurtling; and thus was an avenue opened up for the Column that was always coming, and never came.  Cheering auguries there were in plenty, but we guardedly declined to be cheered, and pretended to snigger sceptically at the auguries.  It might be that the Boers had been “driven out of Colesburg,” but we did not believe it, on principle.  From the same source we learned that Cronje was a prisoner; but he was not! so that our incredulity was in a measure justifiable to the end.  It was conceded, it was being made manifest daily that the housing of so many people for any length of time in the over-crowded mines was opt of the question.  But that was a consideration to which the “Military Situation” could not resonably be expected to play second fiddle.

Despite, therefore, the concrete evidence of impending developments; despite the distant dust-clouds which only Cavalry, and a good many of them, could cause; despite the chaos reigning in Boer circles—­we still declined to be hoodwinked on the never-to-be-forgotten morning of Thursday, the fifteenth of February.  On the night previous the sounds of a heavy musketry duel had been heard.  A force had been sent out to frustrate Boer encroachments and the fury with which (as per expectation) the lost Alexandersfontein was to be regained.  This force effected a coup, and by a series of tricks alarmed the enemy contiguous to Alexandersfontein into a belief that a bayonet charge in strength was contemplated, the consequence being that they (the Boers) beat the air with bullets for full three hours.  Three guns had been trained on our new “possession.”  To dislodge its garrison, however, more vigorous measures were called for; and desperate though they continued to grow, the Boers had no bayonets, without which it was hardly possible for them to achieve their purpose.  Long Tom at Kamfers Dam was too far off to communicate with the proud usurper; it had perforce to content itself with the city streets, into which the shells kept falling for some hours in the forenoon—­until