Each child had a ticket for its present, and joy was distributed with military precision.
When the children had gone to their dreams the room was cleared for a dance, and round whirled the khaki youths with white-bloused maidens in their arms.

It was not exactly the Waterloo Ball with sound of revelry by night, but I think it will have more effect on the future of the race.
Other festivities, remote from the unaccustomed feminine charm, were a series of mule races, near the old camp, for soldiers and laughing Kaffir boys.

The men's dinner itself was enough to mark the day.

It is true everything was rather skimped, but after the ordinary short rations it was a treat to get any kind of pudding, any pinch of tobacco, and sometimes just a drop of rum.
Almost the saddest part of the siege now is the condition of the animals.

The oxen are skeletons of hunger, the few cows hardly give a pint of milk apiece, the horses are failing.