were nearly all locally known, was in suspense.

During many an evening of that eventful week we used to sit out after
dinner under the rays of a glorious full moon, in the most perfect
climatic conditions, and hear heated discussions of the pros and cons of
this occurrence, which savoured more of medieval times than of our own.
The moon all the while looked down so calmly, and the Southern Cross
stood out clear and bright. One wondered what they might not have told
us of scenes being enacted on the mysterious veldt, not 300 miles away.
It was not till Saturday, January 4, that we knew what had happened, and
any hopes we had entertained that the freebooters had either joined
forces with their friends in Johannesburg, or else had made good their
escape, were dashed to the ground as the fulness of the catastrophe
became known. For hours, however, the aghast Kimberleyites refused to
believe that Dr. Jameson and his entire corps had been taken prisoners,
having been hopelessly outnumbered and outmanoeuvred after several
hours' fighting at Krugersdorp; and, when doubt was no longer possible,
loud and deep were the execrations levelled at the Johannesburgers, who,
it was strenuously reiterated, had invited the Raiders to come to their
succour, and who, when the pinch came, never even left the town to go to
their assistance. If the real history of the Raid is ever written, when
the march of time renders such a thing possible, it will be interesting
reading; but, as matters stand now, it is better to say as little as
possible of such a deplorable fiasco, wherein the only points which
stood out clearly appeared to be that Englishmen were as brave, and
perhaps also as foolhardy, as ever; that President Kruger, while
pretending to shut his eyes, had known exactly all that was going
forward; that the Boers had lost nothing of their old skill in shooting
and ambushing, while the rapid rising and massing of their despised
forces was as remarkable in its way as Jameson's forced march.