This was done without the authority of the Committee and in direct opposition to the line already decided upon.  It was moreover considered to be taking a wholly unnecessary risk, in view of the fact that an attack upon the town was threatened by burgher forces on the north-west side, and it was immediately decided by a number of members who heard of Colonel Rhodes’ action to despatch a messenger ordering the troop not to proceed more than ten miles from the town, but to reconnoitre and ascertain what Dr. Jameson’s position was, with the reservation that, should it be found that he actually needed help, such assistance as was possible should of course be given him.  As a matter of hard fact it would not have been possible for the troop to reach Dr. Jameson before his surrender, so that the action taken upon the only message received from the invading force had no practical bearing upon the results.

At daybreak on Thursday morning Mr. Lace and the despatch rider sent by the British Agent to deliver the High Commissioner’s proclamation and the covering despatch were passed through the Dutch lines under the authority of the Commandant-General, and they delivered the documents to Dr. Jameson in person.  In reply to Sir Jacobus de Wet’s appeal Dr. Jameson said, ’Tell Sir Jacobus de Wet that I have received his despatch; and that I shall see him in Pretoria to-morrow.’  Mr. Lace briefly informed him of the position, as he had undertaken to do.  The presence of a Boer escort and the shortness of the time allowed for the delivery of the messages prevented any lengthy conversation.  Dr. Jameson made no comment further than to say, ‘It is too late now,’ and then asked the question, ’Where are the troops?’ to which Mr. Lace replied, ’What troops do you mean?  We know nothing about troops.’  It did not occur to Mr. Lace or to anyone else that he could have meant ‘troops’ from Johannesburg.  With the receipt of Dr. Jameson’s verbal reply to the British Agent’s despatch-carrier the business was concluded, and the escort from the Boer lines insisted on leaving, taking with them Mr. Lace and the despatch-rider.  He offered no further remark.

Footnotes for Chapter V

{22} The telegram originally read ‘within twenty-four hours,’ but it was considered impossible to guarantee the time exactly, and the alteration as above given was made, the word ‘within’ being inadvertently left standing instead of ‘with.’

{23} Captain Ferreira, at one time in command of the guard over the Reformers, informed the writer that he had formed one of the cavalry escort.  ‘It is a good story,’ he said, ’but what fools we would have been to send our guns shut up in trucks through a hostile camp of 20,000 armed men—­as we thought—­round two sides of a triangle instead of going by the shorter and safe road.’

CHAPTER VI.

THE INVASION.