The relieved
expression on the faces of all could not fail to be apparent to even a
casual observer. Pale women and children emerged from their laager, put
on their finery, sunned themselves, and did their shopping. The black
ladies went in a body to the veldt to collect firewood with all their
natural gaiety and light-heartedness, which not even shell-fire and
numerous casualties amongst themselves seemed seriously to disturb.
Those of us who had horses and carriages at our disposal rode and drove
anywhere within our lines in perfect safety. The first Sunday I was in
Mafeking I was up and on my pony by 6 a.m., unwilling to lose a moment
of the precious day. We rode all round our defences, and inspected Canon
Kopje, the scene of the most determined attack the Boers had made, the
repulse of which, at the beginning of the siege, undoubtedly saved the
town. From there we looked through the telescope at "Creechy," whose
every movement could be watched from this point of vantage, and whose
wickedly shining barrel was on the "day of rest" modestly pointed to the
ground. Returning, we rode through the native stadt, quite the most
picturesque part of Mafeking, where the trim, thatched, beaver-shaped
huts, surrounded by mud walls, enclosing the little gardens and some
really good-sized trees, appeared to have suffered but little damage
from the bombardment, in spite of the Boers having specially directed
their fire against the inhabitants (the Baralongs), who were old
opponents of theirs.
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