At Least
One Man Received An Unpaid Bill From An Angry Tailor.
In one particular Mafeking had, with much smaller resources,
rivalled Kimberley.
An ordnance factory had been started, formed in
the railway workshops, and conducted by Connely and Cloughlan, of
the Locomotive Department. Daniels, of the police, supplemented
their efforts by making both powder and fuses. The factory turned
out shells, and eventually constructed a 5.5-inch smooth-bore gun,
which threw a round shell with great accuracy to a considerable
range. April found the garrison, in spite of all losses, as
efficient and as resolute as it had been in October. So close were
the advanced trenches upon either side that both parties had
recourse to the old-fashioned hand grenades, thrown by the Boers,
and cast on a fishing-line by ingenious Sergeant Page, of the
Protectorate Regiment. Sometimes the besiegers and the number of
guns diminished, forces being detached to prevent the advance of
Plumer's relieving column from the north; but as those who remained
held their forts, which it was beyond the power of the British to
storm, the garrison was now much the better for the alleviation.
Putting Mafeking for Ladysmith and Plumer for Buller, the situation
was not unlike that which had existed in Natal.
At this point some account might be given of the doings of that
northern force whose situation was so remote that even the
ubiquitous correspondent hardly appears to have reached it. No
doubt the book will eventually make up for the neglect of the
journal, but some short facts may be given here of the Rhodesian
column.
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