Pandemonium ensued the next morning when Churchill was missed. Hofmeyr described “a great to-do; it stopped the whole machinery of state. It seemed to me that even the war was forgotten.” Churchill’s statement in his letter to de Souza “…the arrangements I have succeeded in making with my friends outside…” threw his pursuers off the scent. They were convinced that he was hiding in Pretoria and dozens of houses were searched to no avail. On 18^th December this poster appeared together with a description of the fugitive. The poster was issued by Lodewijk de Haas who was secretary in the Commission for Peace and Order, responsible for security in Pretoria. De Haas sent Churchill his good wishes in 1908 on the occasion of his marriage. Churchill, in thanking him, added: ‘I think you might have gone as high as £50 without an overestimate of the value of the prize – if living.’