"As the sky brightened before us Mafeking was eagerly looked for, but for a long time each successive rise only showed us another beyond which hid the desired view. But at last, while some of us were buying eggs at a Kaffir kraal, a more adventurous person climbed upon a rubbish heap and shouted, 'There's Mafeking.' There was a rush for the coign of vantage, and a great levelling of glasses. There it lay, sure enough, the little town that we had come so far to see--a tiny cluster of white near the eastward horizon, glistening amid the yellowish-brown of the flats. We looked at it for a few moments in silence, and then Colonel Mahon said, 'Well, let's be getting on'; and no one said anything more about Mafeking, but every one thought a great deal."
With the siege over there were still many things to do. One of the first things done was thus graphically and pathetically described by the special correspondent of the Press Association:--
"This morning the garrison was paraded around the cemetery, where a combined memorial and thanksgiving service was held, and we said our last good-bye to those of our comrades who lie in the little graveyard, and who were killed in defending Mafeking. When the service was over, we tried to sing 'God save the Queen,' but the hymn sounded feeble and quavering, for most of us had lumps in our throats.
"Then Colonel Baden-Powell addressed the garrison. It was one of his characteristic addresses--short, soldierly, and to the point. 'We have been a happy family during the siege. The time has now come for breaking up. When we were first invested I said to you, "Sit tight and shoot straight." The garrison has sat tight and shot straight, with the present glorious result. Many nice things have been said about me at home, but it is an easy thing to be the figure-head of a ship. The garrison has been the rigging and the sails of the good ship _Mafeking_, and has brought her safely through her stormy cruise.' The Colonel then addressed each unit separately, commencing with the nurses, whom he complimented upon their pluck and devotion, shaking hands with Miss Hill, the matron of the Hospital. Coming to the Protectorate Regiment, he said: 'To you I need say nothing. Your roll of dead and wounded tells its own tale.' Then, shaking hands with Colonel Hore, he thanked him for the work he had done.