Baden-Powell of Mafeking by J.S. Fletcher

Ere the siege of Mafeking had been in progress many weeks three incidents occurred which gave something of zest to the proceedings. The first was the retirement -- carried out in obvious disgust -- of General Cronje; the second the capture of Lady Sarah Wilson by the Boers, and her exchange for Viljoen, a noted horse-thief; the third the sending of a very characteristic letter from Baden-Powell to the enemy.

During the whole of November operations on both sides were carried on with regularity and steadiness. Baden-Powell had elaborated a system by which the inhabitants of Mafeking were warned by the ringing of signal bells whenever shells were approaching the town, and as the Boer missiles were sighted, the folk on every side made for the shell-proof shelters which had been constructed in all quarters. Baden-Powell himself was perpetually on the look-out, and he might have had a thousand eyes in his head, so carefully and zealously did he attend to the various matters requiring his attention. While he took particular care of the town and its people, he was not forgetful of the enemy's presence, and continually harassed and worried Cronje and his men by sorties and assaults, in which the British usually got the best of it. The British trenches and outposts were gradually pushed forward, and between the defenders and the Boers a continual exchange of desultory firing went on. Cronje became somewhat weary of the slow progress of affairs. He had expected to occupy Mafeking, and from it to overrun Rhodesia, with little delay; the determined resistance offered to his attack chafed and infuriated him. The news of Lord Methuen's advance upon the Modder River presently drew Cronje away, and with him went a considerable number of the besiegers, Commandant Snyman being left in charge of those who remained.