being borne seemed little in the light of oncoming deliverance.  Mr. Pearse’s notes at this last stage in the long stand for the Empire are interesting reading:—­

February 22.—­Trivialities are supreme after all.  Yesterday we were all more jubilant at the announcement that horse-flesh would not be issued as rations again than on the score of General Buller’s signal telling us he had driven the Boers from all their positions across the Tugela.  To-day soldiers greeted each other with a cheery “’Ave you ’eard the noos?  They say there’ll be full rations to-day.”  An extra half-pound of meat, five biscuits instead of one and a quarter, and a few additional ounces of mealie meal, were more to them at that moment than a British victory.

February 23.—­For several days past the naval 12-pounder on Caesar’s Camp has shelled Boers at work on the dam below Intombi Camp, causing much consternation.  One result of this is that Bulwaan tries to keep down the 12-pounder’s fire and leaves the town in comparative quiet.  This afternoon there was another surprise for the Boers.  “Lady Anne,” one of the big twin sisters of the naval armament to which we owe so much, had not fired for just a month until she astonished the gunners on Bulwaan by planting a shell in their works to-day.  They ran in all directions, not knowing where to hide, and at the second shot bolted back across the hill.  Their tents have disappeared from Bulwaan now.  To-day a Boer, or rather a German fighting for the Boers, was caught by our patrols.  He had a rifle, a bandolier, pockets full of cartridges, and a red-cross badge, concealed, but ready for use when fighting might be inconvenient.

February 26.—­Yesterday numbers of Boers were seen retiring from Pieter’s Station across the ridges towards Bester’s Valley, but no sign of a general retreat yet beyond the report of scouts, who say that several guns have been seen going back at a gallop behind Bulwaan, followed by nearly two hundred waggons.  Last night we heard rifle-firing on the ridges south of Caesar’s Camp and Waggon Hill.  It sounded so near that for a time we thought our own outposts were engaged with the enemy.  Kaffirs say this was a Boer attack on Pieter’s Station, but their story is not confirmed.  General Buller heliographs that he is still going strong, but the country is difficult and progress slow.  Lord Roberts, according to another helio-signal, has Cronje surrounded.  Two attempts to relieve him have been frustrated.  All this puts new life into the garrison here.  A newspaper telegram was also heliographed announcing that Cronje had surrendered with 6000 men, after losing 1700 killed and wounded.  This is probably a bit of journalistic enterprise in anticipation of events.