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:--