ake cutting to-night without fail.'

Every effort was made to find Dr. Wolff, but he--in common with
others--believing that there would be no move for a week, was away.
This telegram was, to say the least of it, disquieting. It showed, so
it was thought, that as late as Sunday morning Dr. Jameson could not
have received the countermands by Messrs. Heany and Holden, and it
indicated that it must have been a near thing stopping him before he
actually crossed the border. As a matter of fact Major Heany reached
Dr. Jameson at noon on Sunday; but Capt. Holden had arrived the night
before.

Shortly after noon Mr. Abe Bailey received and showed to others a
telegram purporting to come from 'Godolphin,' Capetown, to the
following effect: 'The veterinary surgeon says the horses are now all
right; he started with them last night; will reach you on Wednesday;
he says he can back himself for seven hundred.' By the light of
subsequent events the telegram is easily interpreted, but as Mr.
Bailey said he could not even guess who 'Godolphin' might be, the
message remained a puzzle. That it had some reference to Dr. Jameson
was at once guessed, indeed Mr. Bailey would not have shown it to
others concerned in the movement did he not himself think so. The
importance and significance of the message entirely depended upon who
'Godolphin' was, and it afterwards transpired that the sender was Dr.
Rutherfoord Harris, who states that he took the first and safest
means of conveying the news that Dr. Jameson had actually started in
spite of all. Mysterious and unintelligible as it was the telegram
caused the greatest uneasiness among the few who saw it, for it
seemed to show that an unknown someone in Capetown was under the
impression that Dr. Jameson had started. The Reformers however still
rejected the idea that he would do anything so mad and preposterous,
and above all they were convinced that had he started they would not
be left to gather the fact from the ambiguous phrases of an unknown
person.

All doubts however were set at rest when between four and half-past
four on Monday afternoon Mr. A.L. Lawley came hurriedly into the room
where several of the leaders were met, saying, 'It is all up, boys.
He has started in spite of everything. Read this!' and at the same
time throwing on the table the following telegram from Mafeking: 'The
contractor has started on the earthworks with seven hundred boys;
hopes to reach terminus on Wednesday.'