ad already been commenced and sunk
to a depth of twenty feet, but no water had been obtained. Fortunately
the water-barrels had been filled ah hour or two before the supply was
cut, but these only contained two quarts of water per man. The weather
was terribly hot, and the work of the men in the intrenchments was very
severe.

On the night of the 17th Lieutenant Lindsell, with some of the drivers
of the Royal Artillery, acting as cavalry, and a company of the 21st,
went out to fill the water-casks from a stream half a mile away from the
camp, and fortunately succeeded in doing so, the Boers not being on the
look-out in that direction. This gave a further supply of two quarts
per man.

The work of sinking the well had been continued without intermission,
and a depth of thirty-six feet had been attained, but still no water was
met with. A reward of 5 pounds was offered to the first party who
struck water, and the soldiers off duty commenced digging in several
places. At last, to the intense relief of the garrison, a party of
Royal Artillery men found water at a depth of nine feet. The well soon
filled, and yielded plenty of water during the remainder of the siege.

A desultory fire was kept up until the ist of January, when, the Boers
being strongly reinforced, 2000 men surrounded the fort at a distance of
500 yards, and opened a heavy fire upon it. They did not, however,
venture to attack the little garrison. On the 5th they occupied the
cemetery, 300 yards from the fort, but Lieutenant Lindsell with a party
of volunteers went out by moonlight and drove them out. The Boers then
commenced making trenches, gradually approaching the fort; but on the
22nd Lieutenant Dalrymple Hay went out, carried the position from which
the Boers had been most troublesome, and captured four prisoners, some
guns, ammunition, and trenching-tools. From that time, although the
Boers continued to throw up trenches, they contented themselves with a
desultory fire.

The siege continued for three months and five days; at the end of that
time the whole of the provisions were exhausted. Fever, dysentery, and
scurvy had broken out, and many of the garrison had died. Out of 213
men eighty-three had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. In fact
an armistice between the armies had at that time been proclaimed, but
Cronje, the Boer who commanded the attack, treacherously concealed the
fact from the garrison. When only three days' qua