ks and unshaven faces. No need to throw mud at them. The
universal feeling was rather one of sympathy, even of admiration, for
brave men whom fortune had omitted to favour.

CHAPTER VII

_Week ending 2nd December, 1899_

Three and three make six weeks. We were not yet free--not quite. Our
period was doubled. The wary seers who "told us so" had triumphed; and
they exploited their intuition for what it was worth, or rather for a
great deal more, since clearly it was not worth much. They had triumphed
(by a short head, so to speak), or said they had. What matter. They were
minor prophets; and the nearness of Methuen and his Column enabled us to
bear the trumpet-blowing with equanimity and good humour. The monster
head-lines of the _Advertiser_--delightful paper!--proclaimed it "the
last week of the siege!" It was placarded on the walls. The newsboys
shrieked it abroad. The man in the street confirmed it. The populace
believed it. The grocer beamed, and the haberdasher made bold definitely
to state the date on which a particular reel of cotton could be
purchased. It even stimulated the hotel-keepers to discover hidden
spirits. The last week of the siege! how comforting it sounded; and what
potent influence it possessed to soothe temperaments unadaptable to
siege life.

The funerals of the brave men who had fought their last fight on
Saturday took place in the afternoon. A funeral is a mournful thing
always; but here were six young men, cut down in the heyday of their
lives, being conveyed to their last resting-place. Most of them had
been esteemed citizens of the town in defence of which they died. It was
this, the circumstances under which they fell, the feeling that it was
for the preservation of the homes of the people they had given up their
lives, that evoked so much sympathy and sorrow. Thousands of mourners
attended to pay the fast tribute of respect to the dead. The various
sections of the Town Guard in processional order followed the coffins to
the cemetery.

Many things occurred in the course of the day to enhance our
satisfaction with the prospect of emancipation. At eleven o'clock an
alarm was sounded, and the services in the churches were in consequence
cut short. The half of the Town Guard enjoying their day off had their
relaxation cut short, too--unnecessarily, as it turned out. Fifty or
sixty Boers were prowling about, a powerful glass enabled the zealous
look-out to explain. It was a mere sto