As the supports gave way the ungainly marquee commenced to totter and rock far more threateningly.  The wind driving into the interior flapped the roof madly.  The herded humanity within feared that the whole of the canvas above them would be blown off to be carried away by the gale.  The inmates who had fought so desperately among themselves for the shelter it offered were now crouching and shivering with fear.  Some highly strung individual raised a cry of danger.  The next instant there was a wild panic which lasted a considerable time.  There was a wicked combined rush to get outside, the men fighting among themselves fiercely.

Outside, upon “the field,” bedlam was let loose.  The seething mass of humanity was now soaked to the skin.  The men walked up and down, their teeth chattering madly, in a desperate effort to keep warm.  Indeed it was necessary for many of them to persist in unwilling exercise since this was the only way to keep alive:  to stop was to sink down from sheer fatigue.  In the darkness I had discovered and kept company with a South African, Moresby White.[5] But it was almost impossible to converse, since we had to shout with all the force of our lungs to make our voices heard above the roar and rattle of the wind and rain.  We were compelled to tread warily, because in the Cimmerian darkness it was impossible to distinguish the groaning forms crouching upon the ground.

    [Footnote 5:  This gentleman has since been released and at the
    time of writing is recuperating in Great Britain.]

[Illustration:  “THE BLOODY NIGHT OF SEPTEMBER 11, 1914.”

From a rough sketch made on “the field,” by the author during the night.]

We linked our arms tightly together to form mutual support and persistently plodded hither and thither.  The spectacle was terrifying and tested the nerves of the strongest among us.  If ever humanity were cast adrift and left to its own devices, it was that night upon “the field.”  Some of the prisoners were rushing to and fro frantic with fear.  Others huddled together as if to keep one another warm.  Some were on their knees praying fervently, while other parties were singing hymns in voices which made the strongest-hearted among us blench.  Here and there were men stamping furiously up and down cursing at the top of their voices, hurling fierce imprecations to the wind and consigning the Commandant, his superiors, and all their works to everlasting torment.  Some of the most exhausted prisoners had congregated together and crouched with their heads bowed to the storm, shivering with cold, afraid to speak, hungry and terror-stricken, yet completely resigned to the fate which they felt convinced must be theirs and absolutely inevitable.  A few, whose nerves were highly strung, were striding up and down laughing demoniacally, waving their arms madly, and gesticulating as if their senses had indeed given way.  A few of the rougher spirits were blaspheming, and to such a tune that even the most hardened among us were forced to turn our backs to escape their blood-curdling oaths.