eived by the artful and gallant Colonel. No
sooner thought of than done. From among the coloured fraternity whose
love of looting had occasioned trouble in the past he selected the most
expert, and commissioned them to resume their bad ways. On the Monday
night operations were commenced, and carried out successfully. By dint
of much patience and caution, the trusty looters were enabled
(unperceived) silently to segregate some seventy oxen and drive them
into Kimberley. Splendid animals they were, too, and an addition to our
depleted flocks and herds which gave us solid satisfaction.

Whether it was that the enemy was engrossed in a vain search for the
missing cattle--if they were missed at all--he gave no expression to his
indignation next morning. Not until lunch time had we any indications of
annoyance. The vials of Boer wrath were then let loose in earnest, and
from the Lazaretto Ridge we were peppered furiously. The shells fell
thickly in the principal thoroughfares--eighty or ninety of them--one
for every bullock "pinched." Fortunately again, the assault was
unattended by loss of life. The tin walls of Saint Cyprian's Church were
perforated by pieces of shell. Another hissing monster dropped in
Dutoitspan Road in front of a tobacco-shop, but thanks to the
picturesque array of pipes and pouches in the window the missile, as if
it had an eye for art, refrained from bursting; instead it made a little
grave to the depth of several feet and buried itself with honour. Three
or four buildings were struck, and a funny man spread an alarming rumour
relative to the loss of _eighteen_ lives in the Queen's Hotel! On
enquiry it transpired that _two_ cats had met their doom. The victims
had been serenading in an out-house when the fatal missile (very
properly) slit their throats. The dear people of the neighbourhood
affected little sympathy for the slain whose orgies had kept them awake
at night. Indeed a wish was expressed that a few more of the cult might
get hissed off the world's stage. And curiously enough a second shell
_did_ fall at the hotel; but the feline minstrels were out of the
way--and their well-wishers so much _in_ it that they made peace with
the cats at once.

The night had been dark, with vivid flashes of lightning to brighten it
now and then, and nature's artillery had rolled until the Boers on
Wednesday morning took Up the refrain with theirs. One poor old man was
wounded in the arm as he lay sleeping in hi