Part 7 (1/2)

To return: on the present occasion we blessed our foresight in bringing these shi+rts, and also our good luck, in that they had not been stolen by our rascally bearers when they ran aith our goods As Curtis had two, and after considerable deliberation, had made up his mind to wear his coht being aaa very i ested that he should lend the other to Ulory of his post He readily consented, and called the Zulu, who ca Sir Henry's axe, which he had now fixed up to his satisfaction, with him

When we showed him the steel shi+rt, and explained to hi that he had fought in his own skin for thirty years, and that he was not going to begin now to fight in an iron one Thereupon I took a heavy spear, and, spreading the shi+rt upon the floor, drove the spear down upon it with alla mark upon the tempered steel

This exhibition half converted him; and when I pointed out to him how necessary it was that he should not let any old-fashi+oned prejudices he ht preserve a valuable life at a time when men were scarce, and also that if he wore this shi+rt he ht dispense with a shi+eld, and so have both hands free, he yielded at once, and proceeded to invest his frah reat Zulu like a skin The two ger inary than real, the fact being that, although he was pluer, except in the ar, thin ar as wire ropes At any rate, when they both stood, axe in hand, invested in the brown ar the swell of every muscle and the curve of every line, they for

It was now nearly one o'clock in thedrunk the blood of the oxen and eaten enor to sleep round their watchfires; but that sentries had been posted at each opening of the kraal Flossie, they added, was sitting not far from the wall in the centre of the western side of the kraal, and by her were the nurse and the white donkey, which was tethered to a peg Her feet were bound with a rope, and warriors were lying about all round her

As there was absolutely nothing further that could be done then we all took some supper, and went to lie down for a couple of hours I could not help ad hi over him, instantly sank into a deep sleep I do not knoas with the others, but I could not do as much Indeed, as is usual with me on these occasions, I ahtened; and, now that soan to calmly contemplate e had undertaken to do, truth compels me to add that I did not like it

We were but thirty ood , and ere going to engage two hundred and fifty of the fiercest, bravest, and es in Africa, who, to make matters worse, were protected by a stone wall It was, indeed, a , and whati able to take up our positions without attracting the notice of the sentries Of course if we once did that--and any slight accident, such as the chance discharge of a gun, ht do it--ere done for, for the whole camp would be up in a second, and our only hope lay in surprise

The bed whereon I lay indulging in these uncomfortable reflections was near an openthat looked on to the veranda, through which ca For a tiot up and, putting my head out of the , stared about Presently I saw a di his breast--in which I recognized Alphonse

Not being able to understand his French talk or what on earth he was at, I called to hi

'Ah, hed, 'I do ht'

'Indeed,' I said, 'then I wish that you would do it a little more quietly'

Alphonse retreated, and I heard no th Mr Mackenzie calledhad now to be done in the in to move at half-past'

I told him to come in, and presently he entered, and I am bound to say that if it had not been that just then I had not got a laugh anywhere about ht he presented aryman's black s-tail and a kind of broad-rimmed black felt hat, both of which he had donned on account, he said, of their dark colour In his hand was the Winchester repeating rifle we had lent hi belt, like those worn by English boys, were, first, a huge buckhorn-handled carving knife with a guard to it, and next a long-barrelled Colt's revolver

'Ah,at his belt, 'you are looking at ht come in handy if we came to close quarters; it is excellent steel, andI have killed with it'

By this tiht Norfolk jacket over my mail shi+rt in order to have a pocket handy to hold es, and buckled onexcept his mail shi+rt, steel-lined cap, and a pair of 'veldt-schoons' or soft hide shoes, his legs being bare from the knees down His revolver he strapped on round his middle outside the ar thethe rounds to see that each was properly ar that two of theparties knew little or nothing of guns, but were good spearsmen, we took away their rifles, supplied the spears of the Masai pattern, and took the the wide opening; it having beco, were too few for the work

CHAPTER VII A SLAUGHTER GRIM AND GREAT

Then there was a pause, and we stood there in the chilly silent darkness waiting till thetime of all--that slow, slow quarter of an hour Thewith leaden feet, and the quiet, the sole fate, was et up before dawn to see a h a very similar set of sensations, only in the present instance s were animated by that more vivid and personal element which naturally appertains rather to the person to be operated on than to the most sympathetic spectator

The solee of an hour would reat passage to the unknown or oblivion; the bated whispers in which they spoke; even Sir Henry's continuous and thoughtful exaety way in which Good kept polishi+ng his eyeglass, all told the sa-point Only U an occasional pinch of snuff, was to all appearance perfectly and co could touch his iron nerves

Thenearer and nearer to the horizon Now she finally sank and left the world in darkness save for a faint grey tinge in the eastern sky that palely heralded the dawn

Mr Mackenzie stood, watch in hand, his wife clinging to his ar to stifle her sobs

'Twenty h to attack at twenty , he ant three or four lass, nodded to us in a jocular sort of hich I could not help feeling itto muster up--and, ever polite, took off his steel-lined cap to Mrs Mackenzie and started for his position at the head of the kraal, to reach which he had to make a detour by some paths known to the natives

Just then one of the boys came in and reported that everybody in the Masai ca up and down in front of the respective entrances, appeared to be fast asleep Then the rest of us took the road First caaas, the Wakwafi Askari, and Mr Mackenzie's twospears and shi+elds I followed immediately after with Alphonse and five natives all arht up the rear with the six re natives