rush for
meat. She had travelled a good deal, she told us, and had "roughed it"
on Boxing nights; she had been (unaffectionately) squeezed to
suffocation in London. But nowhere outside the Diamond Fields had she
encountered the rudeness that springs from ten thousand empty stomachs!
Who now shall say that hunger is good sauce?

There were, besides meat troubles, minor grievances increasing every
day. A plate of porridge was a thing of the past; and milk of course was
an _antediluvian_ quantity! All the tinned milk had been commandeered
for the hospital. Nobody objected to the priority of that institution's
claims; but it was complained that the quantity commandeered was
excessive, unnecessarily large. Eggs were one and a penny _each_ (each
egg!), which sum few could afford to pay, and a number, whose economic
souls revolted at it, declined to pay, through sheer respect for
proportion. There was nothing to fall back on but "mealie-pap," an
imitation porridge, made of fine white mealie meal; the very colour of
if tired one; white stirabout, connoisseurs opined, was not a natural
thing. There were scores who would not touch "mealie-pap" with a
forty-foot spoon. But they changed in time; "I am an acquired taste,"
cries Katisha; so is "mealie-pap." We acquired the taste for it, just as
people do for tomatoes (where were they!) or a glass of vinegar and
water. This hew porridge was not new to the natives; they dissipated on
it three times a day, and were satisfied so long as they had sugar to
make it doubly fattening. It was all so unlike the piping times of
peace! Sunday was now a bore, productive chiefly of _ennui_. On Monday
one could at least scour the town in search of something to eat; and
many a coolie shop was invaded by bluffers, dressed in the "little brief
authority" of a Town Guard's hat, who endeavoured to bully the coolie
into unearthing hidden stores. But to no avail; the coolie was not to be
frightened, nor even excited, by hat or pugaree. His stock of good
things had indeed been reduced to lozenges, sugar-sticks, and other
dental troubles.

Nothing startling was expected on Monday; but we were disappointed. The
noise sounded like the roar of thunder; we had heard similar sounds
emanate from Modder River; but these were undoubtedly louder and nearer.
It soon became evident that they could not be thunder-claps; they were
too continuous and unceasing. We listened for six hours to the incessant
booming of Briti