is poisonous devil was at work. The shells were
little gems in their way, and when they did not burst, which was often
the case, were tremendously in request as souvenirs. Not much larger
than an ordinary pepper-caster, when polished up and varnished they made
really charming ornaments, and the natives were quick to learn that they
commanded a good price, for after a shower had fallen there was a
helter-skelter amongst the black boys for any unexploded specimens. One
evening we had a consignment into the road just outside my bomb-proof,
attracted by a herd of mules going to water. Immediately the small
piccaninny driving these animals scampered off, returning in triumph
with one of these prizes, which he brought me still so hot that I could
not hold it. It used often to strike me how comic these scenes at
Mafeking would have been to any aeronaut hovering over the town of an
evening, especially when the shelling had been heavy. Towards sundown
the occupants of the various bomb-proofs used to emerge and sit on the
steps or the sandbags of their shelters, conversing with their
neighbours and discussing the day's damage. All of a sudden the bell
would tinkle, and down would go all the heads, just as one has often
seen rabbits on a summer evening disappear into their holes at the
report of a gun. In a few minutes, when the explosion was over, they
would bob up again, to see if any harm had been done by the last
missile. Then night would gradually fall on the scene, sometimes made
almost as light as day by a glorious African moon, concerning which I
shall always maintain that in no other country is that orb of such
brightness, size, and splendour. The half-hour between sundown and
moonrise, or twilight and inky blackness, as the case happened to be,
according to the season or the weather, was about the pleasantest time
in the whole day. As a rule it was a peaceful interval as regards
shelling. Herds of mules were driven along the dusty streets to be
watered; cattle and goats returned from the veldt, where they had been
grazing in close proximity to the town, as far as possible out of sight;
foot-passengers, amongst them many women, scurried along the side-walks
closely skirting the houses. Then, when daylight had completely faded,
all took shelter, to wait for the really vicious night-gun, which was
usually fired between eight and nine with varying regularity, as our
enemies, no doubt, wished to torment the inhabitants by not a