Boer lines. They were to be supplied with food, water, and all
necessaries from Ladysmith by train daily, under the white flag, and to
be on parole not to take any part thenceforth in this war.

As a set-off against these conditions, Joubert undertook that the camp
should not be fired upon by any of his men, or its occupants molested,
so long as they observed the regulations imposed upon them. And he
promised further that they should all be released, but still on parole,
whenever the siege of Ladysmith might be raised or the Boer forces
withdrawn. He gave no pledge, however, that his batteries should not be
placed in such a position that they would be screened by the hospital
camp from the fire of our guns, or that when he might choose to attack,
the Boer forces would not advance from a point where we could not shoot
at them without danger of sending shells and bullets among our own
comrades and fellow-subjects.

Ladysmith's most representative men were dead against the acceptance of
conditions which seemed to them all in favour of one side. They
expressed freely, and without reserve, doubts as to General Joubert's
good faith, and saw in his proposals only fresh instances of Boer
cunning. Their sturdy manhood rebelled against arbitrary terms dictated
by an enemy whose superiority, except in mere numbers, they naturally
enough declined to admit. The weaker spirits might yield, if they would,
out of timid respect for "Long Tom" and other heavy artillery, the
shells from which, though they have done little harm so far, have a
distinctly demoralising effect when they come screeching through the air
and crashing into houses day after day.

In earlier stages of the bombardment people showed little alarm after
they had got over the first shock of hearing a shell burst. Children