CHAPTER XII. After One Hundred Days

AFTER ONE HUNDRED DAYS

Boer paean of victory--Rations cut down--Sausage without mystery-- The "helio" moves east--Sick and dying at Intombi--Famine prices at market--Laughter quits the camps--A kindly thing by the enemy-- Good news at last--Heroes in tatters--The distant tide of battle-- Pulse-like throb of rifles--Two sons for the Empire--British infantry on Monte Cristo--Boer ambulances moving north--"'Ave you 'eard the noos?"--Rations increased--Bulwaan strikes his tents-- "With a rifle and a red cross"--Buller "going strong"--Cronje's surrender--A sorry celebration--"A beaten army in full retreat"-- "Puffing Billy" dismantled--General Buller's message--belief at hand 224