, lay close in rifle pit
and redoubt waiting for an attack which never came. The perimeter to be
defended was about eight miles, but the heaps of tailings made admirable
fortifications, and the town had none of those inconvenient heights
around it which had been such bad neighbours to Ladysmith. Picturesque
surroundings are not favourable to defence.

On October 24th the garrison, finding that no attack was made,
determined upon a reconnaissance. The mounted force, upon which most of
the work and of the loss fell, consisted of the Diamond Fields Horse, a
small number of Cape Police, a company of Mounted Infantry, and a
body called the Kimberley Light Horse. With two hundred and seventy
volunteers from this force Major Scott-Turner, a redoubtable fighter,
felt his way to the north until he came in touch with the Boers. The
latter, who were much superior in numbers, manoeuvred to cut him off,
but the arrival of two companies of the North Lancashire Regiment turned
the scale in our favour. We lost three killed and twenty-one wounded in
the skirmish. The Boer loss is unknown, but their commander Botha was
slain.

On November 4th Commandant Wessels formally summoned the town, and it is
asserted that he gave Colonel Kekewich leave to send out the women and
children. That officer has been blamed for not taking advantage of
the permission--or at the least for not communicating it to the
civil authorities. As a matter of fact the charge rests upon a
misapprehension. In Wessels' letter a distinction is made between
Africander and English women, the former being offered an asylum in his
camp. This offer was made known, and half a dozen persons took advantage
of it. The suggestion, however, in the case of the English carried
with it no promise that they would be conveyed to Orange River, and a
compliance with it would have put them as helpless hostages into the
hands of the enemy. As to not publishing the message it is not usual to
publish such official documents, but the offer was shown to Mr. Rhodes,
who concurred in the impossibility of accepting it.

It is difficult to allude to this subject without touching upon
the painful but notorious fact that there existed during the siege
considerable friction between the military authorities and a section of
the civilians, of whom Mr. Rhodes was chief. Among other characteristics
Rhodes bore any form of restraint very badly, and chafed mightily when
unable to do a thing in the exact