shillings, any sum would be given for a tin of anything, and such bribes
(despite Martial Law) were frequently placed in the hollow of a
merchant's hand, the while he was beseeched in a whisper to slip a
friend a can of something carnal. But the grocer was adamant every time;
he could not do it; and a display of principle is easy when it springs
as much from necessity as from good emotions. The Military Authorities
had been commandeering goods of all sorts--"bully beef" among the
rest--and storing them away in the catacombs of Kimberley. Now, the
public were anxious to know the meaning of the corner in "bully beef";
but nobody could explain it. A vast quantity of cigarettes had been
commandeered, too; but nobody could explain that either. Most of the
"paper," it may be said, was not smoked; it was handed back to the
tobacconists when the siege was raised, and possibly some canned things
were surrendered as well. The hospital was certainly pretty full; care
was taken that the invalids were not neglected, and many things were
being preserved for their exclusive use. This was only as it should be.
But "bully beef" was not reckoned just the ideal food for invalids; and
wicked people accordingly found solace in suggesting that the military
looked suspiciously well-fed. It got abroad, too, that there were tons
of provisions (consigned to Mafeking) lying at the railway station, and
the populace wanted to know why _they_ were not commandeered, and sold
at a profit that would go far towards covering the _then_ estimated cost
of the war. The possibility of forwarding them to their destination was
out of the question; how were they to be sent out of Kimberley? Or how
_into_ Mafeking? The military had the power to let us eat these things,
but they would not exercise it. They preferred to allow the
butter--think of it!--to melt and ooze through the chinks of the boxes;
the cheese--great gorgonzola!--to wax almost too high; and the
potatoes--O Raleigh!--to rot ere they decided to annex them. When these
facts were made known the indignation aroused was very general. Our
prejudice against the khaki grew stronger than ever. Who was Gorle? The
Army Service Corps had come into prominence, and much of its bad
management was rightly or wrongly attributed to a Major Gorle. But the
Military did not put their feet in it firmly until they reduced the
cattle-looting wage from a pound to half a sovereign. The natives
engaged in this hazardous occu