Mafeking had, with much smaller resources, rivalled
Kimberley. An ordnance factory had been started, formed in the railway
workshops, and conducted by Connely and Cloughlan, of the Locomotive
Department. Daniels, of the police, supplemented their efforts by making
both powder and fuses. The factory turned out shells, and eventually
constructed a 5.5-inch smooth-bore gun, which threw a round shell with
great accuracy to a considerable range. April found the garrison, in
spite of all losses, as efficient and as resolute as it had been in
October. So close were the advanced trenches upon either side that both
parties had recourse to the old-fashioned hand grenades, thrown by the
Boers, and cast on a fishing-line by ingenious Sergeant Page, of the
Protectorate Regiment. Sometimes the besiegers and the number of guns
diminished, forces being detached to prevent the advance of Plumer's
relieving column from the north; but as those who remained held their
forts, which it was beyond the power of the British to storm, the
garrison was now much the better for the alleviation. Putting Mafeking
for Ladysmith and Plumer for Buller, the situation was not unlike that
which had existed in Natal.

At this point some account might be given of the doings of that
northern force whose situation was so remote that even the ubiquitous
correspondent hardly appears to have reached it. No doubt the book will
eventually make up for the neglect of the journal, but some short facts
may be given here of the Rhodesian column. Their action did not affect
the course of the war, but they clung like bulldogs to a most difficult
task, and eventually, when strengthened by the relieving column, made
their way to Mafeking.

The force was originally raised for the purpose of defending Rhodesia,
and it consisted of fine material pioneers, farmers, and miners from the
great new land which had been added through the energy of Mr. Rhodes to
the British Empire. Many of the men were veterans of the native wars,
and all were imbued with a hardy and adventurous spirit. On the other
hand, the men of the northern and western Transvaal, whom they were
called upon to face the burghers of Watersberg and Zoutpansberg, were
tough frontiersmen living in a land where a dinner was shot, not
bought. Shaggy, hairy, half-savage men, handling a rifle as a mediaeval
Englishman handled a bow, and skilled in every wile of veld craft, they
were as formidable opponents as the world co