if for no other reason.

In due course Stephen and the hunters returned with the guns, or most of
them, and reported that the slave people were in great state of terror,
and showed a disposition to bolt.

"Let them bolt," I answered. "They would be of no use to us in a row
and might even complicate matters. Call in the Zulus who are watching at
once."

He nodded, and a few minutes later I heard--for the mist which hung
about the bush to the east of the camp was still too dense to allow
of my seeing anything--a clamour of voices, followed by the sound of
scuttling feet. The slave people, including our bearers, had gone, every
one of them. They even carried away the wounded. Just as the soldiers
who surrounded us were completing their circle they bolted between the
two ends of it and vanished into the bush out of which we had marched
on the previous evening. Often since then I have wondered what became
of them. Doubtless some perished, and the rest worked their way back
to their homes or found new ones among other tribes. The experiences of
those who escaped must be interesting to them if they still live. I can
well imagine the legends in which these will be embodied two or three
generations hence.

Deducting the slave people and the bearers whom we had wrung out of
Hassan, we were now a party of seventeen, namely eleven Zulu hunters
including Mavovo, two white men, Hans and Sammy, and the two Mazitus
who had elected to remain with us, while round us was a great circle of
savages which closed in slowly.

As the light grew--it was long in coming on that dull morning--and
the mist lifted, I examined these people, without seeming to take any
particular notice of them. They were tall, much taller than the average
Zulu, and slighter in their build, also lighter in colour. Like the
Zulus they carried large hide shields and one very broad-bladed spear.
Throwing assegais seemed to be wanting, but in place of them I saw
that they were armed with short bows, which, together with a quiver
of arrows, were slung upon their backs. The officers wore a short
skin cloak or kaross, and the men also had cloaks, which I found out
afterwards were made from the inner bark of trees.

They advanced in the most perfect silence and very slowly. Nobody said
anything, and if orders were given this must have been done by signs. I
could not see that any of them had firearms.

"Now," I said to Stephen, "perhaps if we shot and killed some of tho