AN UPLIFTING POWER	221
	£ 20,000 were subscribed by the organizers of the British South Africa Company to float the African Lakes Company, and a fur­ther subscription of £9000 a year was pledged in return for the right under certain conditions of merging the subsidized com­pany in the British South Africa Company. Then, with his unhampered charter and its range cleared to the source of the Nile, Rhodes was ready, like Davy Crockett,
	to go ahead. After consulting with Frank Selous, the famous African hunter, and others familiar with the field, he pitched upon Mashonaland as the first base of operations. Dr. L. S. Jameson was deputed to go to Bulawayo and get Lobengula's express license for this undertaking. The envoy made all pos­sible haste in his mission, and won the king's favor so quickly by his tactful bearing that the entry to Mashonaland was con­ceded. Rhodes lost no time in taking advantage of this oppor­tunity. A force of five hundred armed men were enlisted under the chartered right to an adequate " police," and two hundred pioneers were hired to make a passable wagon road to Mashona­land. Colonel Pennyfather was placed in command. Meanwhile, the fickle Lobengula changed his mind when Dr. Jameson was no longer by his side to persuade him, and sent