We saw no papers, and there was not much prospect of obtaining any.

Before the war we had all talked lightly of wires being cut and railway-lines pulled up, but, in truth, I do not think anyone realized what these two calamities really meant.

My only comfort was the reflection that, no matter how hard they were fighting in Mafeking, they could not be suffering the terrible boredom that we were enduring.

To such an extent in this monotony did I lose the count of time, that I had to look in the almanack to be able to say, in Biblical language, "The evening and the morning were the sixth day." At length one evening, when we were sitting on the stoep after supper, we descried a rider approaching on a very tired horse.

Rushing to the gate, we were handed letters from Mafeking.