contended in sustainment of their preference.  But all three beasts had acquired a fresh interest, notoriety, and dignity; and it was edifying to watch men, not noted for their sporting proclivities, eyeing an animal with the knowing look of a connoisseur that seemed to say:  “I wonder what he would taste like.”  Whether it was that, being so cheap he might be regarded “gift horse,” or for some less occult reason, the points of a beast were never looked for in the mouth.  His age, for example, might strike a thinking person as an important factor to be remembered in the summing up of a horse’s fitness for the grill.  But the people generally never thought of that, and were mainly influenced in their judgments by the spareness or fleshiness of the animal’s hindquarters.  On Saturday the atmosphere was thick with rumours of imminent trouble.  The precise terms of the Boer ultimatum we did not know, but that an ultimatum had been received was not denied.  We heard of a fifty-pound gun (bigger than ours!) being put into position on the Free State border—­with a view to instilling in us the wisdom of recognising the inevitable.  The less formidable instruments of torture nearer home were also being augmented.  There was a feeling that events of an uncommon character were on the march.  People talked of presentiments—­one being that the Baralongs outside Kimberley were being armed to assist in our annihilation.  The much debated topic anent the likelihood of the Sixth Division being sent to join Methuen was settled at last—­to our chagrin.  It had gone off at a tangent somewhere else.  Who knew that the Seventh Division would not follow suit?  In any case, weeks had to pass before the Seventh (being still at sea) could get anywhere.  Our prospects of speedy liberation were therefore none too excellent.  The Empire was passing through a crisis, and if Kekewich had had only the statesmanship to make known to us the truth, the plain unvarnished truth, we might have been less captious in our criticisms of things both local and Imperial.  Even the new gun, in common with the times, was out of joint and undergoing repairs at the workshop.

Nutritious food of any sort was now a rarity in real earnest.  Eggs were hard at a price per dozen that purchased a gross in the not too cheap days of peace; while ducks and drakes, no bigger than crows, but worth their weight in diamonds, were too heavy for the patrons of paste.  The military people had an extensive variety of precious birds stuffed away in their own selected aviaries.  They had also seized upon all the cigarettes in town.  Now, this was held up as a well-grounded and specific grievance against the military.  It was conceded that the sick and wounded had first claim on our humanity; and the chicken monopoly, had it stood alone, would not have invited criticism.  But the cigarette appropriation was reckoned a scandal.  There was an abundance of matches in the military stores—­but