Part 28 (2/2)

We, for our part, o-- and aftera show of pursuit we retreated, battered, wearied, and utterly disheartened, to the heights above the rift, where we had lain concealed at first Soht to rejoice, for that, great as had been our losses, still we had beaten back the ane, who in future would leave us in peace But I knew better than that, wherefore I would not withdraw the remnant of our forces from that position, but watched and waited

Nohen the retreat began, Ngubazana the Gaza, dee warriors of The Scorpions to follow hied into the thickest of the Zulu ranks

But these turned _Whau_! That was no rout, and in aBut Ngubazana, as much older and should have known better, was the last to fall, and he fell fighting, for quite a ring of Silwane's people went down before his spear At last they threw a heavy knobstick at him, which felled him, so that he dropped upon the slain which he had heaped up there, and they made an end of hi bravely to the last; and it was a strange death for one who had left his country to become the follower and servant of a teacher of peace

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

THE BATTLE OF THE THREE RIFTS

With glooed, we lay and rested, and soon there cawali's outpost to tell that an i fro Zulu force was last seen, and then we knew, if we had not known before, that, as we rested there with our shattered and broken re aBeneath, the holloas heaped up with corpses--the hillsides, too There they lay, the fiercest, bravest of our warriors, and of those of Dingane, likewise of ours the poorest; for our regiments of incorporated slaves could not stand before the sternas they had fallen, in a fleeing attitude Disheartened, dispirited noaited for the end Even Kalipe's _impi_, did it arrive, could hardly avail to turn the fortune of war now; yet ere resolved, determined as ever, that if a new nation were to die that day it should die hard

While we lay thus thinking there ca Over the heavens a lurid cloud had been spreading, and it ht the matter back to men's recollection For in the air there thrilled the notes of that sweet, strange song--the Song of the shi+eld Did it spring out of the very heavens? None could tell All gazed eagerly up, for all heard it Those eary and resting sprang to their feet, filled with fresh life Those ere binding up wounds let that be, and, staring around, uttered ejaculations of awe and surprise It seereat iron-faced cliff, and to soar out thence in wreaths of sound Could the singer be there hidden? No; that was impossible But e listened, and it seemed that life lay outspread anew before our eyes

Now there befell that whichof the shi+eld Afar on the plain beneath ca--the remnant of the Zulu host, and the _impi_ which had reinforced it, spread out in half- an immense distance It swept on, black and terrible, and we could see the glittering roll of its spear-points like the breaking crest of a huge wave in the sunlight, could hear the sweep and clash of its shi+elds like winds shaking a forest _Whau_! It looked terrible, that great _i, it would eat us up easily, for it was almost double our own numbers, and ere already crushed, dispirited, and weary

And now the fore in dense serried ranks, victory already glea in the eyes of the plumed warriors almost visible to us where we lay; the countless array of broad shi+elds, and the splendid discipline of theirrapidly onward they came, company after company

Their nuane ca up the slope:

”_Us' eziteni!

Asiyikuza sababona_!”

Note: ”Thou art in aet to see the: ”There will be none left by the ti-drawn, throaty barks, the words were jerked forth, like the baying of an ara was hushed for a moment, there quivered forth upon the air--this ti--theof the shi+eld

Its words were caught up by our warriors, and thundered forth in a frenzy of delight Noe believed we should defeat that huge host

_Au_! and ere to theane had ceased now, and in silence the great _i the spur of the hill, which it had already shut in with the dense half-circle of its formation Behind us was the hard, sana's spears _Whau_!

it recalled to my mind the day we stormed the fortified hill of the Bakoni Only to-day these should find lions--not

Now, looking up to the high point where the King sat and watched the battle, and at tinal, whereat I h position ere on and charge down upon the densest ranks of the Zulu ”horn” But discipline a's troops was absolute, wherefore I hesitated not atothe white shi+eld aloft Beloe could see the astonished looks of those whose spears were upraised to receive us

The place ere now in, _Nkose_, was a hollow, half way up the slope, and shut in by steep walls and terraces of rock like the stairs in a white nal to turn and stand

Down the stair-like place a crowd ofafter us Yet their look was not that of warriors in triuht to be, for these ana and they were sure of us, had us securely trapped, we being shut in between lines of spears They wore rather the look of men who flee, and, indeed, such it appeared was the case, for above I could see the other half of ais upon the them hard down this steep and stony path which they knew not, but which we knew

Noe rushed forward to make an end of them before those below could climb up, I beheld upon one of the rock stairs a ave some order to those he led

_Whau_! I knew that back, for I had seen it before; had seen it rise out of nowhere, the night that the ai, which could not have missed, when, hard as our case was, I res of Zululand should be slain froh the back