, and an excellent band
played charming tunes under the trees; but everyone was so
preoccupied--and no one more than the hostess--that it was rather a
depressing entertainment.

At last events began to shape themselves. We learnt that the Governor
had left Pretoria on January 15, and that the military prisoners,
including most of the troopers, were to be sent home to England
immediately, for the leaders to stand their trial. The same morning I
heard privately that Mr. Rhodes meant to leave by that very evening's
mail-steamer for England, to face the inquiry which would certainly
ensue, and, if possible, to save the Charter of that Company with which
he had so indissolubly connected himself, and which was, so to speak,
his favourite child. I remember everyone thought then that this Charter
would surely be confiscated, on account of the illegal proceedings of
its forces.

The fact of Mr. Rhodes's departure was kept a profound secret, as he
wished to avoid any demonstration. The mail-steamer was the even then
antiquated _Moor_ of the Union Line, and she was lying a quarter of a
mile away from the docks, awaiting her mail-bags and her important
passengers. Besides Mrs. Harry Lawson and ourselves, Mr. Rhodes, Mr.
Beit, and Dr. Rutherford Harris, the two latter of whom were also going
to England, embarked quite unnoticed on a small launch, ostensibly to
make a tour of the harbour, which as a matter of fact we did, whilst
waiting for the belated mail. An object of interest was the chartered P.
and O. transport _Victoria_, which had only the day before arrived from
Bombay, with the Lancashire Regiment, 1,000 strong, on board, having
been suddenly stopped here on her way home, pessimists at once declaring
the reason to be possible trouble with Germany. A very noble appearance
she presented that afternoon, with her lower decks and portholes simply
swarming with red-coats, who appeared to take a deep interest in our
movements. At last we boarded the mail-steamer, and then I had the
chance of a few words with the travellers, and of judging how past
events had affected them. Mr. Beit looked ill and worried; Mr. Rhodes,
on the other hand, seemed to be in robust health, and as calm as the
proverbial cucumber. I had an interesting talk to him before we left the
ship; he said frankly that, for the first time in his life, during six
nights of the late crisis he had not been able to sleep, and that he had
been worried to death.

"Now,