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.