Lord Roberts now commuted the sentence of the court-martial which tried Lieutenant Murchison for the murder of Mr. Parslow to one of penal servitude for life. Many of those who had been associated with this officer did not consider him responsible for his actions, and were relieved at the lightening of the punishment of a comrade-in-arms. On the 27th Colonel Baden-Powell sent the following message to Lord Roberts:-- "After two hundred days' siege I desire to bring to your lordship's notice the exceptionally good spirit of loyalty that pervades all classes of this garrison. The patience of everybody in Mafeking in making the best of things under the long strain of anxiety, hardship, and privation is beyond all praise, and is a revelation to me. The men, half of whom are unaccustomed to the use of arms, have adapted themselves to their duties with the greatest zeal, readiness, and pluck, and the devotion of the women is remarkable. With such a spirit our organisation runs like clockwork, and I have every hope it will pull us successfully through." [Illustration: POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED AT MAFEKING DURING THE SIEGE.] At this time, the Boers being more peaceful, the citizens prepared to celebrate the two hundredth day of the siege by horse dinners. Various other mysterious meats, whose origin none dared investigate, appeared on the bill of fare. One lady developed a genius for treating the meat rations, and went so far as to give a dinner-party. Her process was elaborate. The meat ration was cut up and the objectionable pieces removed. It was then soaked in salt and water for three hours, and made into soup thickened with starch. The next course was the beef out of the soup, served with potato tops, which were found most delectable. Then came a sowans pudding. Sowans proved a failure when served as porridge or curry, but when the preparation was mixed with starch, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder, people were swift to partake. In addition to the usual delicacies, minced mule and the aforesaid sowan porridge, invented by an ingenious Scottish crofter of the name of Sims, there was now manufactured a curious brawn of horsehide, which was generally sneered at but devoured with alacrity. Curio hunters longed to preserve a slab of it for presentation to the British Museum, but the feat of self-abnegation was too hard to be endured. Besides, as some philosopher said while putting it into a place of safety, it would be the highest horse that was ever exhibited by the time it got there, and the building wouldn't hold it. The community was almost entirely a teetotal one. "Wee drappies" grew so wee as to be almost invisible, and when a case of whisky was raffled for it fetched £107, 10s.! On the 29th a military tournament was held, whereat a great display of cheerfulness was affected, to cover the fact that fever, malarial and typhoid, was gaining ground in the hospitals. AFFAIRS IN RHODESIA