15th. Very quiet. Heavy rain during the night; the Boers entrenching themselves towards the brickfields. An American despatch rider of Reuter’s, Mr. Pearson, arrived, having ridden from south of Kimberley--a great performance. 16th. Heavy thunderstorm and rain; shelling and sniping all round. 17th. Shelling and sniping. The big gun again shifted rather farther back. Mr. Pearson started on his adventurous ride back to Cape Town. I wish him every success. 18th. To-day is the beginning of the end, I hope. Cronje’s laager to the south-west is breaking up and trekking south. All squadrons have been warned to be in readiness to start at once, and we hope our turn is coming at last, but General Cronje is capable of any ruse to draw us out and endeavour to overwhelm us in the open. They do not forget to leave us Creaky, who gave us a heavy doing to-day; sniping is going on continually daily on our south-eastern and eastern front. At this point of the siege it is worth while to review the situation. The Boers have been compelled to detach a large portion of their force to the south, leaving, however, ample men to invest the town. They have had four severe lessons and seem more disinclined than ever to come to close quarters. They have, however, entrenched themselves in suitable positions round the town, and it is impossible to say at any given point what their strength might be. Our strength is about nine hundred rifles, including all available white men, and a sortie, even if successful, might seriously impair our strength; whereas, as we are, we can hold the town, which is our primary object. For a sortie at the most we could only hope for two hundred to two hundred and fifty men, and the rapidity with which the Boers concentrate, and their vast superiority in artillery, would give them a very good chance of inflicting a defeat, which might be ruinous. No! their shell and musketry fire is annoying, but with the precautions that have been taken they cannot inflict sufficient damage to compel surrender. Thus, the whole thing resolves itself into a matter of "patience, our turn is coming soon." For if we cannot get out, neither they nor three times their number can get in.