Part 13 (2/2)

”I cannot help thinking,” whispered Hans to Victor, ”that if we had more men it would be better for us I understand that solish and deserters froaan from near the coast; if noe all were to join, it would be better One stick is easy to break after another, but if you tie ten together it is not so easy”

”We ht well for our cause”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE BOERS ADVANCE TOWARDS ZULU LAND--THEIR BATTLE WITH THE ZULUS--HANS'

DANGER--LOST--THE ARTIFICE--THE RACE FOR LIFE

The eh the ceded territory of Natal, crossed the Tugela river, and approached the kraal of Dingaan Only a few spies were observed in their march, and it was feared that the Zulu hold in the interior

Near the kraal of Uaan's residence, there was a defile between two hills, and upon the e this the Zulu arrants, the army rapidly retired towards the kraal

”There stand the murderer's soldiers,” exclairants pursued their foes, who shortly showed a front, and, with fearful yells, charged their invaders Another division of the Zulu arrants had passed it, suddenly eed and cut off the retreat of the horsemen, ere thus attacked fro up, and the e their usual successful , halting and firing, and again riding away

It becaled them into a trap, and had thus drawn them on, until they had entered this very unfavourable place for fighting on horseback With a rapidly-arranged system, the Boers directed their fire upon one portion of thethem by hundreds, cleared a way for themselves out of their difficulty

Hans, with his two co of the combat The heavy weapons carried by these three hunters, and their accurate aim, had produced terrific effects on the Zulus, the bullets in h two men and wounded a third Hans had been one of the first to see the threatened danger of being irrecoverably hemmed in by the enemy, and had shouted the advice, ”All fire on the rear Zulus: clear a way out over them”

Had the whole party adopted this plan, there would not have been any great loss on the part of the white men; unfortunately, however, the leader Uys turned fro, and followed by Hans and about twenty others, dashed through a weak party of Zulus, and thus hoped to escape

The Zulus, however, were dangerous even to death: several men who had fallen wounded raised the, and even as the horses trod on their limbs these hard-lived warriors stabbed the steeds which were above them, and, in several cases, wounded the riders Onward rode the eh separated from the main body of the party, until they suddenly found thee of a ravine, which their horses could not get over At this ti under hih he could not At this ti it could carry hi up to finish the work they had begun on the gallant Uys, he jumped from his horse, and rushed into the ravine, the side of which was densely wooded; and thus, whilst the Zulus were occupied in slaying Uys and his son, ould not leave his father, Hans h the underwood, and reached a slope beyond, from which none of his enemies or friends could be seen

Thecleared a way for the all the Zulus who opposed theallop till they had cleared the ravine and bushy ground near Dingaan's kraal, and obtained a position in the plains where the Zulus dared not follow the that the Zulus were afrom those of their party who had followed Uys that he, his son, and one or two others had been killed, ast whom Hans was stated to be, the farmers became disheartened, and returned at once to their head-quarters

Several of the farmers had seen Hans' horse badly wounded, and when they had escaped from Uys and his son, they saw Hans leave his horse and enter the ravine on foot They believed he would have no chance of escape, for the enemy were in hundreds, and they therefore reported without hesitation that he was killed, for they believed he must be so

Had either Victor or Bernhard believed that he was still alive, they would have been disposed to venture back in the hope of aiding their friend; but hearing he was dead, they knew they could be of no service, and therefore rode on with their co their head-quarters, and reporting the loss of their gallant leader, his son, and a few others, there was great grief at the lager All who knew Hans liked hiuide to them in all matters of war; so that he was bewailed by all Katrine bore her grief silently; she would not id and corpse-like for hours, refusing all consolation, and asserting her belief that Hans was not dead

The eers to their countrylish settlers at Natal Bay, and the other eaan, they gave up all hope for the present of any favourable results of an expedition against the strong chief of the Amazulu

When Hans found hins either of his friends or eneer

One of two courses he intuitively knew must be adopted: either to try at once to overtake his friends, or to lie concealed until the night, and then to endeavour to find his way towards the Bay of Natal or the lager of his friends After a short reflection he decided on the latter plan, and had no sooner done so than he was convinced of its being the safer of the two, for he saw several parties of Zulus on the hill-tops before hilers, or to observe the proceedings of the retreating ene, with the caution and skill which his hunter's experience had enabled him to adopt, forced his way into the densest part of the bush, and left scarcely any trail, Hans reh he was enabled to see the hills on both sides of him, and even to hear the triumphant shouts of the Zulus, as they carried off the spoils of the veteran leader and his son Hans, however, knew that the slightest movement on his part, even so much as would cause a branch to shake, would most probably attract the attention of his watchful enemies Thus he dare not move hand or foot, but remained as still as was his brave leader He had determined to sell his life dearly if he should be discovered, and only to cease using his weapons when he himself was slain He had some hopes that his countryround frolers to rejoin the the whole day Hans re in he ventured to raise his head a country, so as to decide which would be the safest direction for hi about hi object in the bush about two hundred yards from him, which at first he believed to be a portion of the dress of a whitethis more carefully, Hans concluded that it was the shi+eld of a Zulu, and therefore believed that it belonged to a ht existed, Hans continued to exa that no movement whatever occurred, he fancied the owner of the shi+eld was either killed, or it had been dropped by some man in his retreat When darkness spread on all around, Hans as silently as possiblethe Zulu's shi+eld, made his way towards it It was not without difficulty that Hans reached the exact spot on the opposite slope on which was the shi+eld, for it is very difficult to keep to any particular line in a dense forest He, however, reached the spot, and there found a Zulu dead The ht this retired locality to die quietly