Chapter VI: Part III: The Story of the Siege of Mafeking (1)

_October, 1899--May, 1900_

I.

THE WARM CORNER

In July, 1899, Baden-Powell was suddenly called away from the gaieties of Henley Regatta to attend at the War Office. There he received orders to proceed to South Africa, and within three days he was on his way. Always prepared for such emergencies, he might easily have set out within three hours, but the necessary delay enabled him to pay some farewell visits to friends. It was at this time that he paid the visit to Dr. Haig-Brown, which has become famous because of the words he used in saying good-bye to his old schoolmaster--"I hope they'll give me a warm corner." How warm that corner was to be nobody anticipated when Baden-Powell left England to fill it.

On his arrival at the Cape Baden-Powell was ordered to form a body of irregular troops in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and he set up his headquarters at Mafeking. This place, now famous all the world over, is situate on the Malopo River, and in the most important centre of population in British Bechuanaland. It is a comparatively new settlement, but was of considerable importance as a trading centre ten years ago. Mr. Lionel Decle, the famous traveller, who visited it in 1891, thus describes it in his "Three Years in Savage Africa":--"The 'town' consisted of a big open place called the 'Market Square,' round which were grouped a few buildings, mostly of corrugated iron. Two hotels, five or six stores, a barber, a butcher, and a baker composed the commercial part of the place. One building, standing by itself, contained the Law Court, the Post, and the Government offices. Add to this a church and a few private houses, where the clergyman, the magistrate, and the doctor lived, and you have Mafeking as it was in 1891. About three-quarters of a mile off is a big native village." By 1899, however, Mafeking had considerably increased in size and importance, though its architecture was still of a very primitive nature, consisting chiefly of soft bricks and corrugated iron. With the exception of the convent, all the houses were but one storey in height. On the west, north, and east the surroundings of Mafeking are flat; on the south and southeast the town is overlooked by high ground.

In Mafeking, between August and October, 1899, Baden-Powell gathered together a small garrison--so small, indeed, that one feels amazed to know that such a handful of men afterwards accomplished so much. At the beginning of October he had under him about seven hundred men, drawn from the Bechuanaland Protectorate Regiment, the British South African Police, the Cape Police, the Bechuanaland Rifles, and the Town Guard. The men of the Protectorate Regiment and the South African Police were armed with the Lee-Metford rifle, and had six muzzle-loading seven-pounders, very old-fashioned in make, and several Maxim, Hotchkiss, and Nordenfeldt guns. The remainder of the garrison were armed with the Martini-Henry rifle. Long before war actually broke out, Baden-Powell kept his handful of men busily engaged in strengthening the defences of the town. There were people in Mafeking who would have dissuaded him from making such elaborate preparations, believing that the differences between Great Britain and the South African Republic would be settled by diplomatic process, but Baden-Powell left nothing to chance, and he and his men worked with a will. Defence works were made all round the town, bomb-proof shelters were contrived, a system of communication by telephone between headquarters and the various forts was established, an armoured train (soon to figure very conspicuously in the first outbreak of hostilities) was kept waiting in the station, and the principal buildings of the town were protected by sand-bags. While all these preparations for a possible siege were being made there were many other things to be done. It was well known that there were several traitors and disaffected folk in Mafeking--Baden-Powell, with characteristic promptitude, had them arrested and placed in safe-keeping. Then came the question of getting the women and children away. A great many of them were sent off to the south, but many refused to leave the town. The sisters at the convent remained as a matter of course, and were soon busily engaged in nursing the sick and wounded. The question of provisioning the place was one which caused Baden-Powell a good deal of anxiety. It was found that the quantities of food-stuffs stocked in the various shops and stores were much below the average, and the commandant's powers of ingenuity were sorely taxed in order to devise means for the proper victualling of the town. In this work he was much helped by three men--Lord Edward Cecil, one of the Prime Minister's sons, Mr. Benjamin Weil, a member of a mercantile house with a great reputation in South Africa, and by Mr. Frank Whiteley, a Yorkshireman, who, after an adventurous life as sportsman and traveller, settled down in Mafeking many years ago, and was its Mayor during the eventful days of the siege.

By the beginning of October Baden-Powell had made his corner--soon to be warmer than perhaps ever he had dreamt of!--all ready against whatever was to be. Everything was in readiness. In a letter written from Mafeking on October 9th the writer says that there was then nothing in the appearance of town or people to indicate the nature of what was coming--men and women were pursuing their ordinary avocations as though the shadow of war was far away instead of being so near. The town was ready and waiting, and meanwhile its usual life went on until the need came for action. Baden-Powell and his garrison had not long to wait, however. On October 11th hostilities began between Great Britain and the South African Republic, and the armoured train of Mafeking figured conspicuously in the first engagement. On that date it left Mafeking with the last load of women and children, and made its journey southward in safety; but on its return journey it fell into the hands of the Boers, and ere long English readers were informed of its capture. This was the first of the reverses which came in quick succession during the autumn of 1899.

The armoured train of Mafeking consisted of an ordinary four-coupled locomotive, protected in every part by 7-16 in. steel plates, and two bogie trucks, fenced to a height of five feet by stout rails, bolted longitudinally together. Communication with the driver was had by a system of bells and speaking tubes from the trucks, each of which was furnished with a machine gun and had accommodation for fifty men. On the night of October 11th Captain Nesbitt and fifteen men were in charge of the train, and were bringing back in it a further supply of guns and ammunition for the garrison. All went well until a point some forty miles south of Mafeking was reached. There, about midnight, the armoured train ran off the lines, which had been purposely displaced by the Boers. The latter, ambushed close by, immediately poured in volley after volley upon Nesbitt and his little company. The fight went on until morning broke, and it was not until he had fought for several hours that Nesbitt surrendered. The Boers had by that time brought up heavy cannon, and the situation was hopeless. Only the engine-driver escaped by crawling along a dry ditch at the side of the track--the rest fell into the hands of the Boers.

The actual investment of Mafeking began on October 12th, when General Cronje, in command of an army estimated at eight thousand strong, appeared in the neighbourhood. He was well supplied with cannon, but is said to have been surprised to find that there was need for its use, as he had expected that he would be able to occupy the town with very little opposition. Baden-Powell, however, was not at all disposed to yield to the Boer general in any way, and Cronje quickly found that whatever success might be in store for him would have to be fought for. On the first day of hostilities rather severe fighting took place between the Boers and two squadrons of the Protectorate Regiment under Lord Charles Bentinck and Captain FitzClarence. The Boers are said to have lost over fifty men in this preliminary fight; the British three. Baden-Powell on this day played an ingenious trick upon the besiegers, which resulted in their serious discomfiture. There was a considerable store of dynamite in Mafeking, which might have proved extremely dangerous if a shell had burst in it. Baden-Powell therefore caused two trucks to be filled with it, and sent them down the line attached to an engine, the driver of which was instructed to leave them when in sight of the Boer lines. The enemy, thinking the trucks contained troops, began a smart fire upon them, with the result that the dynamite soon exploded, and caused great havoc amongst the besiegers in its immediate neighbourhood.

The first Boer shell came into the town on October 15th, and from that time until the 24th the bombardment was very heavy. With the beginning of the bombardment began the curious and amusing interchange of letters and communications between the Boer general and the English commandant. Cronje began by proposing that the opposing forces should observe Sunday as a day of rest. Baden-Powell was quite agreeable, and reminded his enemy that it was not according to the recognized rules of civilized warfare that ambulances should be fired upon--a dirty trick of which the Boers had already been guilty. Cronje explained this away and immediately transgressed again, and continued to do so. On October 17th he endeavoured to cut off the water supply, only to find that Baden-Powell's ever resourceful mind had thought of all possible difficulties and dangers, and had made provision about wells and springs. This done, the Boer commandant again resorted to letter-writing. He asked Baden-Powell quite innocently whether it would not save much bloodshed if the British surrendered at once. Baden-Powell asked when the bloodshed would begin--a laconic form of reply which appears to have irritated and puzzled the Boer leader. Cronje now began to bombard the town more furiously than ever, throwing a large number of shells into it within the next few days. On the 21st Baden-Powell sent home the following characteristic telegram, which has been talked of and laughed over thousands of times since:--

"_October 21st._--All well. Four hours' bombardment. One dog killed."

Cronje, being unaware of this terrible effect of his artillery practice, now sent another letter to Baden-Powell, hinting once more at a British surrender. Baden-Powell replied that he would let General Cronje know when the garrison had had enough. Evidently disposed to give them as much as possible, and in as short a time as might be, Cronje renewed the bombardment, firing hundreds of shells into the town within the next thirty-six hours. Then Cronje wrote again, telling Baden-Powell that he had better surrender, for he was bringing a heavy siege gun to bear upon the town, and would shortly blow it all to pieces. Baden-Powell replied that he thanked General Cronje for the news, and would give him some information in return. He then went on to say that the town was surrounded by mines, which could be exploded automatically, that he had placed a yellow flag above the building in which the Boer prisoners were confined in order to give General Cronje information of his friends' exact whereabouts, and finally that the persistent shelling of the women's and children's laager would make a precedent for the British army which would eventually invade the Transvaal. Cronje replied to this budget of very pertinent information by a renewed shelling of the town, this time doing a good deal of damage.

On October 27th a brilliant passage of arms took place. Captain FitzClarence, taking some men of the Protectorate Regiment and of the Cape Police, made an attack by night upon the enemy's trenches, and gave the Boers a taste of the bayonet. Over one hundred of the enemy were killed on this occasion, the British loss being very slight indeed. The trenches upon which the attack had been made were taken, but were found to be untenable. Four days later there was another fine bit of fighting at Cannon Kopje, the key of the British position, which was resolutely attacked by the Boers early in the morning. The British South African Police, commanded by Colonel Walford, met this attack--which was made under cover of very heavy gun fire--with splendid resolution, and finally beat the Boers off with heavy loss on both sides. It must have become increasingly evident to Cronje that Mafeking was not to be taken so easily as he had at first anticipated, and that its commander was as capable an exponent of the art of war as he was an amusing and exasperating correspondent.

Whether Baden-Powell thought the corner which had been given him warm enough for his taste one does not know--that it was an extremely busy corner, and that he had many demands upon his time, is certain. He was the brain of the whole town--from him, as from some wonderful reservoir of strength and judgment, went all the various promptings, encouragements, and counsels which made men strong. He was tireless in his labours--those who were with him speak of the marvellous way in which he seemed to bear a thousand things in mind. It is very easy to sit at home and talk of the siege of Mafeking, but there are few people who can at all realize what it must have meant to Baden-Powell to feel himself the head and front of his little force, and that upon his courage and determination everything depended. The contest, as it began, looked so unequal--on one hand stood a little irregular band of some nine hundred men, on the other an army of eight thousand. But great general and bold leader as Cronje is said to be, he had more than met his match in Baden-Powell, who had sat down in the warm corner which he had desired, and had made up his mind that he would keep the English flag flying over it until such times as relief came to him. Let the relief come soon or late, Mafeking must be held against the Boers at all costs.

II.

WARMER AND WARMER

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.

Early in December came the affair of the exchange of Lady Sarah Wilson for Viljoen. When the siege began, Lady Sarah, who was acting as special correspondent of the _Daily Mail_, and whose husband, Captain Gordon Wilson, was a member of Baden-Powell's staff, left Mafeking and rode across country to Setlagoli, where she met friends. Finding that her presence there was likely to cause discomfort to the latter, she went on to Mosuti, where she stayed at the house of a colonial farmer. From this place she kept up communication by means of native runners, but at the end of a month set out, in company with a young Boer who was induced to represent himself as her brother, for Vryburg, where she obtained news from the loyalists. Suspicion as to her real character appears to have been roused here, and she and her escort were severely examined by the Landrost ere they could get out of the town again. Lady Sarah now determined to return to Mafeking, and set out thither, only to be made prisoner by some of General Snyman's burghers. Snyman refused to allow her to proceed to Mafeking or to return to her friends at Setlagoli, and gave her the alternative of being sent prisoner to Zeerust or exchanged for Viljoen, whose previous record as a horse-thief appears to have been a somewhat dark one. Lady Sarah at first refused to be exchanged under these conditions, but the transaction was soon afterwards completed, and she returned to the beleaguered town. Her account of what she had seen in the Boer camp must have had a reassuring and confidence-inspiring effect upon the garrison of Mafeking. She told them that, from the information she had gained, the Boers were already wearied of the war, and that their losses, from the continual vigilance of Baden-Powell's men, were very heavy. She had found the besiegers' camp dirty, badly equipped, and poorly supplied with food, and had observed that General Snyman was unpopular with the men serving under him.

It may be that this information had something to do with the characteristic letter which Baden-Powell addressed to the besieging forces early in December--a letter which aroused vast indignation amongst the Boer leaders, and created much interest and not a little admiration in England for its writer's good sense and wise counsel. It was addressed, "To the Burghers under arms round Mafeking," and ran as follows:--

"BURGHERS,

"I address you in this manner because I have only recently learned how you have been intentionally kept in the dark by your officers, the Government, and the newspapers as to what is happening in other parts of South Africa. As the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops on this border, I think it right to point out clearly the inevitable result of your remaining longer under arms against Great Britain. You are aware that the present war was caused by the invasion of British territory by your forces without justifiable reasons. Your leaders do not tell you that so far your forces have only met the advanced guard of the British forces. The circumstances have changed within the last week. The main body of the British are now daily arriving by thousands from England, Canada, India, and Australia, and are about to advance through the country. In a short time the Republic will be in the hands of the English, and no sacrifice of life on your part can stop it.

"The question now that you have to put to yourselves before it is too late is: Is it worth while losing your lives in a vain attempt to stop the invasion or take a town beyond your borders, which, if taken, will be of no use to you?

"I may tell you that Mafeking cannot be taken by sitting down and looking at it, for we have ample supplies for several months. The Staats Artillery has done very little damage, and we are now protected both by troops and mines. Your presence here and elsewhere under arms cannot stop the British advancing through your country. Your leaders and newspapers are also trying to make you believe that some foreign combination or Power is likely to intervene in your behalf against England. It is not in keeping with their pretence that your side is going to be victorious, nor in accordance with facts. The Republic having declared war, and taken the offensive, cannot claim intervention on their behalf. The German Emperor is at present in England, and fully sympathizes with us. The American Government has warned others of its intention to side with England should any Power intervene. France has large interests in the goldfields, identical with those of England. Italy is entirely in accord with us. Russia has no cause to interfere. The war is of one Government against another, and not of a people against another people.

"The duty assigned to my troops is to sit still here until the proper time arrives, and then to fight and kill until you give in. You, on the other hand, have other interests to think of, your families, farms, and their safety. Your leaders have caused the destruction of farms, and have fired on women and children. Our men are becoming hard to restrain in consequence. They have also caused the invasion of Kaffir territory, looting their cattle, and have thus induced them to rise and invade your country and kill your burghers. As one white man to another, I warned General Cronje, on November 14th, that this would occur. Yesterday I heard that more Kaffirs were rising. I have warned General Snyman accordingly. Great bloodshed and destruction of farms threaten you on all sides.

"I wish to offer you a chance of avoiding it. My advice to you is to return to your homes without delay and remain peaceful till the war is over. Those who do this before the 13th will, as far as possible, be protected, as regards yourselves, your families, and property, from confiscation, looting, and other penalties to which those remaining under arms will be subjected when the invasion takes place. Secret agents will communicate to me the names of those who do. Those who do not avail themselves of the terms now offered may be sure that their property will be confiscated when the troops arrive. Each man must be prepared to hand over a rifle and one hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition. The above terms do not apply to officers and members of the Staats Artillery, who may surrender as prisoners of war at any time, nor to rebels on British territory. It is probable that my force will shortly take the offensive. To those who after this warning defer their submission till too late I can offer no promise. They will have only themselves to blame for injury to and loss of property. They and their families may afterwards suffer.

(Signed) "R.S.S. BADEN-POWELL,

"Colonel.

"Mafeking, Dec. 10th."

* * * * *

It is almost unnecessary to say that the Boers did not take this advice, and that their leaders endeavoured to falsify Baden-Powell's statements and predictions. Events went on pretty much as usual from the date of this letter until Christmas. The previous week had been fairly quiet, save for a continual artillery duel between the garrison's Nordenfeldt and the Boers' big gun, and the besieged had been encouraged a good deal by the news of British successes. A two days' truce was agreed upon for Christmas, and on Sunday, the 24th, the children, who had spent most of their time during the previous two months in the gloom of the shell-proof refuges, were brought into the town and treated to a Christmas-tree, which had been provided by a Committee of which Lady Sarah Wilson was the moving spirit. That night--Christmas Eve--there was a special service in the English church, garnished and decorated for the occasion. One of the Boer shells had struck the church during a previous bombardment and had damaged the fabric, but in spite of this the congregation was cheerful and happy, and sang hymns and carols, though those of the men who were there were armed, booted, and spurred, and ready for any emergency.

There was another day's truce on Christmas Day, but at night rumours of a sortie which Baden-Powell intended to make on Game Tree Fort began to spread amongst the officers. At dawn next morning, December 26th, the sortie was made. Two squadrons of the Protectorate Regiment and one squadron of the Bechuanaland Rifles, accompanied by three guns and an armoured train, advanced upon Game Tree Fort in the twilight and began an attack, which Baden-Powell in his despatch to Cape Town characterizes as being "carried out and pressed home with the greatest gallantry and steadiness under very hot fire." The action began by an artillery duel, in which the British Maxim joined as the daylight increased, and was soon general in the vicinity of the fort, which was situated about a mile and a half from the town. At sunrise the attacking force, under Captains Vernon and FitzClarence, was ready to rush the Boer position. Those watching the fight from a little distance saw the men of the Protectorate and Bechuanaland squadrons moving rapidly upon the fort, and heard a continuous rattle of musketry as they drew to close quarters with the enemy. For a while there was some anxiety amongst the watching staff; then it was seen that the British troops were slowly drawing back, "the fort," said Baden-Powell in his despatch, "being practically impregnable." Then came the news of the repulse and the opinion of the commanding officer that the position was too difficult to attempt a second time. But it was not until the list of casualties was made out that anyone not actually engaged in it knew how gallant and strenuous the attack had been. Out of the attacking force of about one hundred men, only one half came back scatheless. Captains Vernon and Sandford, Lieutenant Paton, and twenty-one rank and file were killed; Captain FitzClarence and twenty-two rank and file were wounded; three troopers were taken prisoners. Most of the casualties occurred in the final attempt to storm the fort, and Captain Vernon, in particular, showed magnificent courage. Wounded more than once during the attack, he kept on fighting until he was shot dead. Little wonder that the Boers were greatly impressed by the courage of the besiegers, and that General Snyman began to feel still more doubtful as to the success of his forces!

On the evening of this day the dead were buried in the cemetery of Mafeking, the enemy out of respect for their brave opponents ceasing fire while the ceremony was in process. The Boers, indeed, on this occasion had showed themselves more humane than usual, and had assisted the British to succour the wounded men of the attacking party when the ambulance went out after the fight was over. Still, it was deemed inadvisable to fire the usual volley over the dead, and so the men who had fallen were laid to rest in comparative silence. The non-commissioned officers and men were interred in a long trench, folded in white calico; the officers were buried in coffins at a little distance. So the day came to an end with the sound of the Last Post. It might have been a more successful day had it not been for treachery, for there was no doubt that the news of the intended British attack on Game Tree Fort had been communicated to the Boers, who had immediately hastened to strengthen their defences and to tear up part of the railway along which the armoured train would proceed, but in spite of the non-success of the attack, the garrison of Mafeking was still confident and in good spirits.

The last days of the old year passed somewhat quietly when compared with the stirring events which had immediately succeeded Christmas Day. In one respect the garrison and the inhabitants were in somewhat better case--every day was making it evident that the Boers would not take the town save by extraordinary means. The spirit of its defenders grew stronger and more indomitable as each sun rose and sank, and every man was determined that there should be no surrender. There can be no doubt that the maintenance of this brave spirit was largely due to the example and cheering words of Baden-Powell, who from his bomb-proof headquarters in the centre of the town dominated and inspired everything. One may well feel a wondering curiosity as to what he felt as he thought and planned and kept a watchful eye on all that was going on. He had never been in such a warm corner as this in his life, but one may be certain that it was not too warm for him. There are men who rise to the greatest heights at the moment of greatest need, and there were needs coming upon Mafeking which were likely to try the heart and resolution of even so brave a man as its watchful commandant.

III.

SITTING TIGHT

On New Year's Day, 1900, the Boers began a new species of assault upon Mafeking. They fired several nine-pounder shells into the laager reserved for women and children, killing one child and injuring two others. They also fired on the convent and on the hospital. Baden-Powell sent a vigorous protest against this cowardly action to General Snyman, but the same tactics were pursued at intervals during the next few weeks. On January 3rd a smart artillery duel took place between the besieged and the enemy. During the previous night the British artillery had been concentrated in a fresh position, and when it came into play it wrought considerable damage amongst the Boer guns, one of which, at least, was thrown out of action. On the 6th the enemy threw a number of shells into the market-square, but did little damage, and on the 15th they were compelled to retire with their ninety-four-pounder and their Krupp gun to more distant positions, the besieged having successfully pushed out trenches and sharpshooters towards their big gun battery. In his despatch of the 17th Baden-Powell remarked that he had now driven back the Boers on three sides well out of rifle-range, and had opened grazing for cattle on the east side of the town. On the 16th the Boers again resorted to questionable tactics. They fired a ninety-four-pounder shell into the convalescent hospital and partly wrecked it, and afterwards fired on an officer and orderly who went out under the white flag. What the garrison must have thought of these outrages one need not conjecture.

About this time the question of food supply began to agitate the minds of those responsible for the beleaguered town. For the first two months of the siege privation had not been felt, but in the despatches coming to hand about the middle of January there was evidence that provisions were beginning to run short. Oats were no longer given to horses, but saved for men; tinned milk and matches were taken charge of by the military authorities; and food generally began to be sparingly used. Before this the Kaffirs in the native quarter had eaten mules killed by the Boer guns. But apart from this shortening of rations a spirit of courage and determination filled the garrison. In the despatches from Major F.D. Baillie (war correspondent of the _Morning Post_) which got through about this time, a phrase occurs again and again which shows how bravely everybody was keeping up in Mafeking--"All is well." Certainly there was a desire on the part of somebody--whom one shrewdly suspects to have been the commandant himself--to make things as pleasant as possible. An agricultural show was held on January 21st and was a great success. On Sundays Baden-Powell organized concerts and musical entertainments, and himself appeared to delight perhaps the strangest audiences he had ever played to in his life. On one occasion he impersonated Paderewski in the first part of the performance, and a cockney in the second, winding up by playing "Home, Sweet Home" on a mouth-organ! One would like to have been present at that performance--despite the fact that Snyman and his Boers were still eager to seize the little town.

In his despatch of February 3rd Baden-Powell reported various artillery duels between that date and January 23rd, and remarked that General Snyman had practically admitted shelling the women and children's laagers, and that he, in consequence, had informed him that he had placed the Boer prisoners in these places in order to protect them from deliberate bombardment. But another foe was now at hand. Dysentery broke out amongst the garrison and fever amongst the children. In a despatch from Reuter's special correspondent, dated February 19th, the first terrible picture of the siege comes into view. He speaks of rations of weevily biscuit and horseflesh; of typhoid and malaria in the women's laager, into which the Boers still threw shells; of the children's graveyard daily receiving new victims; and of the natives wandering about, gaunt and hungry. Up to that date nearly three hundred persons had been killed or wounded or died of disease. But there was no talk of surrender, even though the hope long deferred made many hearts sick. All through February the state of affairs was unchanged with the exception that the Boer attrocities seemed to increase. Not content with firing on the women and children's laager, and on hospital and convent, they treated natives who tried to leave the town with great cruelty, stripping and flogging the women, shooting down the men, and generally adopting the most brutal means of warfare.

On February 26th came the Queen's message to Baden-Powell and his little garrison and gave them new heart and courage. About the same time news of the relief of Kimberley was received, but there was small prospect of similar help coming so quickly to Mafeking, where diphtheria had broken out amongst the children. During the early days of March a good deal of fighting went on in the brick-fields, and the enemy's big gun began to be very active. In his despatch of March 13th, however, Baden-Powell reported that the enemy's cordon had been much relaxed, and that he had captured twenty-six head of their cattle and killed twelve Boers. Then the bombardment began again, and continued with varying success on the part of the enemy. On March 24th the Boers evacuated their trenches in the brick-fields, and they were taken possession of by the garrison, who at this time, according to Major Baillie's despatch to the _Morning Post_ of the last-named date, were less pressed than at any period since the beginning of the siege. Some little diversion was caused on Sunday, March 25th, by the holding of a Siege Exhibition, at which prizes were awarded for such exhibits as collections of shells (Boer shells!), models of fortifications, and the like.

Not only food, but money was running short in Mafeking now, and the ingenious brain of its commander was called upon to supply the deficiency. He instituted a paper currency for sums as low as threepence, and also issued bank-notes for £1 and £5. The postage stamps becoming exhausted, a new supply, stamped with the words "Mafeking Besieged," was produced. However short the money supply was, however, it seems to have made little difference to people who wished to spend it, since one hears of unexploded shells being sold as curiosities for as much as twelve guineas each.

In his despatch of March 27th, Baden-Powell, after beginning with the familiar "All Well," which sounds so strange to folk who were wondering how Mafeking was contriving to hold out as she did, goes on to say that they are experiencing the hottest shelling of the siege, but that the town was comparatively free from musketry fire. The Boers, in fact, were being steadily pushed back, the besiegers never losing an opportunity of advancing their trenches nearer to the enemy's position, and the latter were also worried by the advance of Colonel Plumer's relief column. On March 31st, heavy firing was heard to the northward of the town, and the enemy were seen to be going in a northerly direction in great haste, taking three field guns with them. The garrison at once opened fire on their forts, and continued it until the firing northward ceased. Next morning General Snyman sent a message to Baden-Powell requesting him to send out an ambulance to bring in the dead of Colonel Plumer's force, who, according to his version, had been slain by hundreds. When the ambulance reached the scene of operation, three bodies were discovered.

About the beginning of April, General Snyman was relieved of his command, in which he had had no more success than the redoubtable Cronje, by Commandant Botha. This made no difference to the garrison, who were determined to hold out two months longer if necessary. Some considerable help was given to the commissariat department at this period by a Scotsman, Mr. Sims, who invented a food called sowan porridge, made from the husks of oats. This proved very nourishing, and if not exactly appetizing, was wholesome, and much to be preferred to nothing when the question of going supperless to bed came on. A statement prepared by Captain Ryan, head of the commissariat department, shows how things were going in April:--

"The total number of white men is approximately 1150, of white women 400, and of white children 300. The coloured population consists of some 2000 men, 2000 women, and 3000 children.

"Both the white and coloured men originally received eight ounces of bread. The allowance has now been reduced to six, but a quart of soup is given to make up the deficiency. Half a gallon of sowan porridge a day will sustain life. The recipients are of three classes: those who receive it in lieu of two ounces of bread; those who wish to purchase food over and above the quantity to which they are entitled; those who are absolutely destitute, both black and white, and who receive the porridge free. It has been suggested that the natives should not be charged for sowan porridge, but it is thought unwise to pauperize either blacks or whites. If any profit has been made from the sale by the end of the siege, it will be employed in buying grain for the many native women and children in Mafeking who have been involved in a quarrel which is not theirs.

"The horse soup is made from the carcases of animals which had ceased to be serviceable and those killed by the enemy's fire, as well as horses and donkeys purchased from individuals who can no longer afford to keep them. This soup is unpopular among the natives, but this is due rather to prejudice than to its quality.

"The distribution of supplies is entirely under Imperial control. The Army Service Corps possesses a slaughter-house, a bakery, and a grocery at which the authorities receive and distribute all vegetables, and it receives and distributes milk to the hospital, to women and children, and to men who have been medically certified to need it.

"At present the hospital is supplied with white bread, and it is hoped that the supply will be continued. Hospital comforts are issued to such as are in need of them, both in and out patients, on receipt of an order from a medical officer. For the nurses and doctors, who work day and night, the authorities endeavoured to provide slightly better rations than those available for the general community. Our sources of supply have been chiefly through Mr. Weil, who had a large stock on hand for the provisioning of the garrison, until the contract terminated at the beginning of February. Since then supplies have been collected from various merchants, storekeepers, and private persons, and stored in the army Service Corps depôt, and from the original Army Service Corps stock, of which forage and oats formed a great proportion. Fresh beef is obtained by purchase from a private individual named White, and in a lesser degree from the natives.

"Breadstuffs are obtained, like groceries, by commandeering the stocks of various merchants and private persons."

Shortly after this report was published, the special correspondent of Reuter's Agency announced that a further reduction in the supply of breadstuffs had taken place. "We are now able to receive only four ounces daily," he continued. "This, however, has been to some extent compensated by the issue of sowan porridge to whites as well as blacks. We have still a fair supply of fresh vegetables, which the Chinese are retailing at famine prices. As vegetables, however, are perishable commodities they are still cheap in comparison with whisky, which is 25_s._ a bottle. Eggs are 18_s._ a dozen, fowls 20_s._ each, jam 2_s._ 6_d_. a small tin."

The same correspondent, alas! remarks in a despatch of somewhat later date that "excellent brawn is now being made, and is eaten by both whites and blacks. It is made from ox and horse hides." He adds with a brevity which has a good deal of pathos and humour in it, that "the garrison is very cheerful, very dry, and very hungry." Most of the necessarily brief despatches from Mafeking in the most trying days of the siege have a spice of humour and a good deal of pathos in them. On May 3rd, Lady Sarah Wilson cabled the following laconic message to Lady Georgiana Curzon:--"Mafeking, May 3rd.--Breakfast consisted of horse sausages; lunch, minced mule and curried locusts. Well." "There is great demand for horse side and brawn," says Reuter's special correspondent on May 5th. But perhaps the most significant, and certainly the most impressive, message of all was that of Major Baillie, dated May 1st, which will surely be remembered when many incidents of the Boer War are forgotten:--

"This morning the Boers attacked us.

"The result was as usual.

"There is an aching void here.

"Pass the loaf."

Those of us who sit at home at our entire or comparative ease can scarcely comprehend the full meaning of these messages, nor of the heroism of the men who, sorely tried by hunger and disease, were keeping up the flag with such stern, immovable determination. In the town, hunger and sickness; outside the town, an enemy so bitterly unscrupulous as to observe no civilized conditions of warfare, and whose leaders did not scruple to fire on women, children, and sick men--here was a situation in which surely nobody but the most courageous could have preserved a cheerful confidence. How that confidence struck Baden-Powell may be judged from the despatch which he sent to Lord Roberts on the 200th day of the siege. "After 200 days' siege," he said, "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 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 organization runs like clockwork, and I have every hope it will pull us successfully through."

IV.

THE LAST DAYS

About the end of April a new Boer commandant appeared on the scene at Mafeking in the person of Sarel Eloff, a near kinsman of President Kruger. He was the fifth Transvaal officer to be placed in charge of the Boer attack, and it was rumoured that he was specially ordered to succeed where the elder and younger Cronjes, Snyman, and Botha had failed. But the siege had now been in progress for seven months, and the Boers were in no better position than at first. So far as the actual taking of the town was concerned they were in a much worse position, for Baden-Powell's watchfulness and daring had driven back their lines, wrecked a good many of their works, and done more damage to their forces than they had succeeded in effecting amongst the garrison. From a military point of view there was now little, if any, advantage likely to accrue to the Boers by this capture of Mafeking. If Cronje had reached the town by assault during the first few days of the siege he would have been able to command a large stretch of country, and in a position to dominate Rhodesia, but the lapse of several months had changed everything, and from the tactician's point of view there was nothing to be gained by the fall of Mafeking. Nevertheless the Boers continued to surround the place, and were able on more than one occasion to drive back the relieving force under Colonel Plumer, who advanced at various times to within a very near distance of the town. What the feelings of the besieged, weary with constant watching and weak with hunger and privation, must have been when it was known that their would-be succourers had been within six miles of them, and had then been obliged to fall back, may be better imagined than described.

However sick with hope deferred some of the folk in the little town may have been, there was no feeling of despair in the heart of the man by whose genius and energy the defence was finally conducted to such a glorious issue. It is almost--perhaps entirely--beyond the powers of the stay-at-home, fireside-loving Englishman to comprehend the extraordinary strength of purpose and firmness of will shown by Baden-Powell during this historic siege. If one could realize what it must have meant to be shut up in Mafeking during all those weary months, with heavy responsibilities of various natures crowding upon one, and conducting all things to final victory, one might understand Baden-Powell. When the siege was over, he, with the modesty which is not the least charm of his character, strove to give praise to others, instead of allowing it to be showered solely upon himself. "Many nice things have been said about me at home," he remarked, "but it is an easy thing to be the figure-head of a ship." What sort of figure-head Baden-Powell was may be gathered from the following interesting sketch of him, extracted from a despatch of the special correspondent of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ during the last weeks of the siege:--

"He is a wonderfully tireless man, ever on the alert, ever with one eye on the enemy and the other divided between the town and that nightmare, the native stadt. Some say that he never sleeps, and I half believe the statement. I have frequently seen him myself at the peep-of-day crossing the veldt on his return to town after visiting all the works, with the customary tune on his lips; and half an hour afterwards he was on the roof with his glasses glued to his eyes, having an early look at the enemy. Later on he takes a constitutional walk up and down before his quarters like one doing sentry-go. An hour or so later he is on the stoep writing his diary, generally with his left hand, for with his wonderful foresight he has recognized that in pursuing his trade he may lose his right, and he does not wish to be left in the lurch. Again he is on the roof once more, having another look at the enemy, and if everything is particularly quiet, he trusts the look-out men and goes to his nook to dip into a novel or have a stretch under his mosquito curtain. I always know that he is there as I pass when I see a pair of tan boots sticking out.

"He spends the rest of the day doing a thousand and one things, receiving reports, adjusting differences, learning from his staff all they know, powwowing with Lord Edward Cecil, his chief staff officer, discovering how much food we have from the D.A.A.G., and suggesting how it may be conserved, and how much per head shall be served out to each soul under his care--all the time with an eye fixed upon Snyman and his horde, reading their thoughts, knowing what they are about to do, and planning a checkmate. In the evening he goes up to the hospital to inquire after his wounded--he never misses this visit--and if a victim of the siege is to be buried it is ten to one that we see him at the graveside. The Colonel trusts his command, but like the good general that he is, leaves nothing to chance, and always has the concentrated knowledge of every officer in his head. Many stories are told by our sentries of one who silently steals out of the blackness of the night and is on them before they have time to challenge. He asks a question or gives a suggestion and a cheery word, and then departs as silently as he came. They even tell of a bearded stranger dressed in grey tweed who has the stature of B.-P., and strolls around the works and makes such remarks as 'Keep a keen eye in that direction; you never know what may be stirring or where they are.' He goes away and they know that he is the commander. Napoleon himself never kept keener vigil than B.-P., or had a greater grasp of what was going on around him. Added to this night-and-day round, our Colonel even directs the other force away up north that he never sees, yet every movement of which he is acquainted with. Nevertheless, the strain, the anxiety that must be there, despite the external show of light-heartedness, the constant watchfulness, and the worries connected with the interior economy of the town, would have soured and broken down and turned grey-headed many another man. But B.-P.'s temperament preserves him, and to-day (April) he is as fresh, as keen, and as full of vigour as when he started in October."

Perhaps an even more remarkable testimony than this was that which came from General Pretorius, who, while in hospital, recovering from the wound he received at Elands Laagte, discussed the sieges of Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking with an English friend.

"The Ladysmith men," he said, "were good, but there were 10,000 of them, and all fighting men. Kimberley was remarkable because of the large number of its civilian population and natives; but the siege of Mafeking, however it may end, will always live in South African history, because a flat and absolutely unprotected country village (for that is what Mafeking is) has by the genius of one man been defended, and defended against the most strenuous efforts not only of our leading general, Cronje, but of his successors. I should like to take you outside Mafeking where I have been, and look at the place. You would have thought that the 8000 with which we once surrounded it could have got in on any night they chose. We had the best of Cronje's burghers there, but it is no confession of cowardice on our part to say that we knew that Baden-Powell was not only prepared for every surprise of ours, but that he was quite ready to spring surprises upon us at any moment. And though I think that we shall eventually take Mafeking, it will be by starvation and not by attack. Our burghers have not exhibited fear on any occasion, but I do not think they will tackle Colonel Baden-Powell."

It was scarcely probable that the man, then feared by one of the most capable of the Boer generals, should be outwitted by a comparatively young officer like Eloff, who must necessarily have been somewhat discouraged by the failure of Cronje, Snyman, and Botha. Eloff, however, was not wanting in courage or ability, and he seems to have been more daring than any of the Boer leaders who had preceded him. He arrived before Mafeking during the last week in April, and on the 24th the garrison received information from natives that a determined assault was to be made upon the town. Something in the nature of a feeble fusillade was begun by the Boers next day, but it was extremely futile, and the garrison thought it scarcely worth their while to reply to it. Indeed, there was so little doing on the part of the Boers at this stage of the long-drawn-out proceedings that the besieged were able to devote some of their energies--the energies of starving men!--to getting up a military tournament, which was successfully held on Sunday, April 29th.