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.