the
enemy's ordinary practice of closing hostilities about sunset each
evening, but he does not allow this to become a hard and fast rule, nor
does he recognise "close time" that may not be broken in upon at will,
if sufficient temptation to shoot presents itself. So the sale was held,
not only in a secluded corner, but in the brief half-light between
sunset and night. Some civilians came as a matter of curiosity to look
on, but the majority were soldiers, regular or irregular, on business
intent, and they soon ran up with a rapidity that gave the good traders
of Ladysmith a lesson in commercial possibilities when it was too late
for them to profit by it to the full. Eggs sold readily at nine
shillings a dozen, their freshness being taken on trust and no questions
asked. Ducks that had certainly not been crammed with good food were
considered cheap at half a guinea each, and nobody grumbled at having to
give nine shillings and sixpence for a fowl of large bone but scanty
flesh. Imported butter in tins fetched eight and sixpence a pound, jam
three and sixpence a tin, peaches boiled that morning in syrup, and
classified therefore as preserves, went freely for seven and sixpence a
bottle, and condensed milk at five shillings a tin. But these prices
were low compared with the five shillings given for three tiny cucumbers
no longer than one's hand. The crowning bid of all, however, was thirty
shillings for twenty-eight new potatoes, that weighed probably three or
four pounds. The buyers were mostly mess-presidents of regiments, whose
officers began to crave for some change from the daily rations of tough
commissariat beef and compressed vegetables; or troopers of the Imperial
Light Horse, who will rough it with the best when necessity compels, but
not so long as there are simple luxuries to be had for the money that is
plentiful among them.

Cynics dining sumptuously in their clubs may jeer at the idea of
campaigners attaching so much importance to creature comforts. Let them
try a course of army rations for two months, and then say what price
they would set against a fresh egg or a new potato. Two privates of the
Gordon Highlanders stopped beside the auctioneer's stall as if
meditating a bid for some fruit. They listened in wonderment as the
prices went up by leaps and bounds. Then said one to the other, "Come
awa, mon! We dinna want nae sour grapes." For them, however, and for
others whose means did not run to Christmas ma