To keep his men in good spirits, always a hard task in a long siege, Colonel Baden-Powell held impromptu concerts, at which fragments of popular operas were given by the ladies and officers in the town. He speedily obtained the complete confidence of his men. No precaution was neglected; everything was foreseen; and in spite of his limited resources he was never beaten. By common agreement between the British and the Boers, Sunday was observed as a day of truce. Once or twice when the Boers were noticed to be digging trenches on that day, "B.-P.," as his men called him, drew Cronje's attention to the fact, and the digging stopped. The Boers, however, persistently shelled the hospital and a convent which the nuns had refused to abandon. These heroic ladies attended the sick and wounded, and took the fullest share in the hard work, setting an example which was above all praise. [Illustration: ORANGE RIVER BRIDGE. This bridge, carrying the railway from the Cape to Kimberley and Mafeking, marked the northern position of the British during the early days of the war. Although weakly held, it did not fall into the enemy's hands. The photograph shows the camp of the small force which held the northern or exposed end of the bridge.] [Illustration: OORLOG'S SPRUIT BRIDGE, BETWEEN COLESBURG AND NORVAL'S PONT. DESTROYED BY BOERS, November 5.] [Sidenote: OCT. 17-31, 1899.] _Bombardment of Mafeking._] On November 7 the garrison made a very successful sortie, drawing the Boers under the fire of our ambushed artillery by a feigned retreat. The enemy broke and fled in great disorder, losing heavily. After this an interval of Boer inactivity followed, though the town was constantly shelled. Cronje, with a good number of his men, was withdrawn, as his services were wanted elsewhere, and Commandant Snyman replaced him. The position of the biggest of the Boer guns was altered; the Boer field artillery left for the south. [Illustration: _G. Soper._] [_From a photograph by J. E. Neilly._ A LULL IN THE FIGHTING: DINNER-TIME AT MAFEKING DURING THE SIEGE. This photograph represents the interior of the "Graveyard Redan," at the cemetery, and is shown on the extreme right of the plan on opposite page.] [Sidenote: [OCT. 12-15, 1899.] The accuracy of the Boer fire was great. Seven successive shots from the 5·9-inch gun struck the front of one of the forts, completely destroying the earthworks, though, strangely enough, there was no loss of life. The convent was hit eight times; a shell struck a hotel and, bursting, moved a billiard table some inches without injuring those who were playing billiards. Another shell took off the roof of a house in which five men were breakfasting without wounding any of the five. [Illustration: SCENE AT COLESBERG AT THE READING OF SIR ALFRED MILNER'S PROCLAMATION AGAINST DISLOYALTY.] [Sidenote: The Boers seize Vryburg.]