ould be gained. A curl of blue smoke arose from above the
lines of huts, and towards this I was making, surely, craftily,
cunningly. I had left off fighting now, and was dodging my enemies
round and among the huts. Ha! they could not overtake me, for had they
not to do with the King's chief runner?--and there were none to stop me,
for all were engaged in defending the stockade.

"The fire at last! It burned bright and clear in front of a larger hut
than the rest, and round it sat a ring of witch-doctresses mumbling
incantations. So intent were they upon this that I drove my assegai
through the nearest before they discovered that a Zulu warrior was in
their very midst. _Au_! the she-cats! What a yell they gave as they
flung themselves on the ground and screeched for mercy! But I laughed,
and, having speared two more of them as they lay there, I snatched the
flaming brands from the fire and flung them upon the thatch of half a
dozen of the nearest huts, which in an instant were a mass of flame and
smoke.

"All this had taken but a moment of time, and now, as my pursuers came
up, I shovelled as much of the fire upon my shield as I had time to do,
then started to run, dodging them round the huts as before. As I came
to the stockade again, those defending it looked round, and seeing a
strange figure bearing fire upon a shield, must have taken me in the
fray for one of their own witch-doctresses, and instead of attacking me
they waited to see what I would do. But they had not long to wait.

"Darting through them, I poured the whole glowing burning mass into the
stockade; and, indeed, it was high time, for my shield was nearly
charred through. The thick thorn-fence was as dry as months of
uninterrupted sunshine could make it. It caught at once, shooting out
into myriads of serpentine tongues of fire. _Hau_! It roared, it
crackled, and already the flames from the huts I had first set on fire
were darting like lightning from thatch to thatch!

"`I return, men of the King!' I roared, fearing to be mistaken for one
of the Basutu and speared as I leaped back over the stockade. A shout
of recognition greeted my words, and, striking right and left, I plunged
through the now flaming fence, through the fire itself.

"`Now we have them!' I cried, as I once more found myself among my own
people. `A pretty blaze! Now have we smoked the game from its cover!'

"As the words left my lips there burst forth a wild shrie