The majority expected the announcement of a new play or novel; a few held that a pill or a cocoa would be recommended.

Next morning the question became more explicit, and the hypothesis of the play and the pill were excluded.

'What,' the new poster ran, 'is Ireland going to do for the Boers ?' The public were not intensely anxious to find an answer to the conundrum thrust thus forcibly on their attention, but they became curious to know who the advertisers were who hungered for the information.

Men blessed by Providence with sagacious-looking faces made the most of their opportunity, and informed their friends that the thing was a new dodge of O'Rourke's to get money.

Their reputation suffered when the next placard appeared.