To begin with the two officers in command, General Hewitt escaped from his bungalow somewhere in the civil lines and was escorted by Lieutenant Warde of the IIth N.I. Whether Warde had been sent to look for him by Finnis (before the latter was killed) or encountered him en route, we do not know. Hewitt was apparently in some disarray and it is not clear where he first went. For a considerable time he was not with Archdale Wilson: he must however have joined the latter with the European troops, before these moved off sometime between 7 and 7.30 p.m., and he must have accompanied them in their march to the native parade ground and during their operations there; otherwise Wilson could not have used the presence of the divisional commander as relieving him of responsibility under the regulations. Wilson himself received the news of the outbreak from Whish, the Brigade-Major, to whom Finnis had sent another officer of the IIth N.I., Captain Dennys. When Whish galloped into the Brigadier's compound, Wilson at once sent messages to the Artillery and the Carabiniers to join him on the Rifles' parade ground. Wilson himself rode off at once, being fired on, it is said, by his own guard. One may surmise that his promptitude and decision, not markedly characteristic of the man, owed something to what Gough had told him the evening before; Wilson knew at once what had happened.