WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 7.30 P.M. MAFEKING, _May 16th, 1900_.
The relief of Mafeking is now an accomplished fact, and the first Imperial troops to enter our lines were eight of the Imperial Light Horse, under the command of Major Karri Davis. They had ridden in advance of the main body in an effort to pierce our lines while General Mahon, who had already formed a junction with Colonel Plumer, was engaging the main body of the enemy along the watershed of the Molopo, some seven miles north-west of the town.
We had known since Sunday that an Imperial force was approaching Mafeking from the south, and during Monday immense activity was displayed in the Boer laagers, while towards the south-west a thick fringe of dust was drifting slowly under the commotion of a column of Boers who were retiring rapidly before the approach of the Southern force. During Tuesday we thought we heard the distant booming of the guns, and we could see the Boers preparing to take up positions along the north-western ridges of the Molopo River. At an early hour on Tuesday morning news reached us that the respective commands of General Mahon and Colonel Plumer had joined at Saane's Town, a few miles up the valley of the river. From the moment that the town received this news the memory of the past seven months was dissipated in the first flash of the glad tidings. Speculation was rife as to the precise hour of the arrival of the relief, but the day passed without much prospect of the siege being raised before nightfall. However, this morning the most positive information had arrived during the night, and it seemed that within the next forty-eight hours the combined forces would be here. The morning passed uneventfully. No one seemed quite to know how to spend the few remaining hours which were all that remained of the siege. About noon it became known in town that the forces would not enter Mafeking without having a smart brush with the enemy. We had observed small, detached forces of Boers making from north and south of the town for the ridges about the western areas of the Molopo. Artillery accompanied these men, whose numbers had been drawn from the various Boer positions around Mafeking. A large contingent had moved from the eastern laager and similar bodies had been called out from the south-western and northern camps. It was an anxious time for us in Mafeking, and, although there was no doubt about the final result, we still felt that the fate of the relief column hung in the balance. About half-past two General Mahon's guns opened upon the enemy, the smoke of the bursting shells being plainly discernible away towards the north-west. There was a constant booming of artillery, and the smoke of heavy rifle fire just above the horizon. As the news swept through the town there were many who gathered upon coigns of vantage to witness the action. It was impossible to see details, and indeed it was about half-past four before we even caught sight of the moving masses of men. It seemed then that the Boers were falling back; the artillery had ceased to play, and we were under the impression that they were engaged in taking up fresh positions. About five o'clock a large force of Boers was noticed moving rapidly along the ridge to the east, while a smaller body of three hundred men, detaching themselves from the main column, were riding rapidly towards the west.