"Then I am afraid my report will be of little use to you, sir." "On the contrary, we are most anxious to hear it. There are fellows in their ranks who have served with us, and one or more of these can doubtless read our signals. We have only asked them if they could hold out until we arrive, and they said 'yes.' We abstained from asking any further questions, for from prisoners we hear that the Boers feel sure that Kimberley cannot hold out much longer. Now, in the first place, what is your report?" "This is all I have brought, sir. Colonel Kekewich was afraid that I might be caught on my way out, consequently I only put down, as you see on this slip of paper, his estimate of the amount of stores. It will not take me five minutes to write out the names of the various articles to which the figures refer." "And were you caught?" "Yes, and this paper was examined; but they could make neither head nor tail of it, and threw it on the ground and I recovered it." "Well, just complete that list, then, and I will take it in to Lord Methuen, who is, I am happy to say, going on well. But first, you can answer me generally, how long can they hold out?" "I should think, sir, for three months. Some items may run short, but in general Colonel Kekewich was of opinion that the stores available were considerably greater than those indicated by the figures, as most of the residents had laid in private stores before the town was altogether cut off." "That is most satisfactory. We may be sure that they won't have to wait so long as that. If you will write out the list at once I will take it in to Lord Methuen, and after that you can give me an account of how you got in, and how you got away after once being caught by the Boers." Yorke wrote out the list. "Very good indeed, much better than I had expected. I see you have put a query behind the number of shell. What does that mean? There can be no private store of shell." "No, sir; but the De Beers people have set to to manufacture them, and have begun to turn them out rapidly. They have already been tried, and the gunners can make as good practice as with our own." "Good indeed. I see that there is a mark after the number of the guns." "Yes, sir; the De Beers people have begun making a long gun. They heard that the Boers are bringing up a hundred-pounder, and they hope that the one they are making will have a longer range than that piece, although I believe it is not to carry so heavy a shot." The two officers left the room with the list; General Colville returned in a few minutes. "Lord Methuen will see you," he said. "He would like to question you himself." Yorke followed him into another room. Lord Methuen was lying on a couch.