moment that I heard a far-away and
unaccustomed sound, and asked Hans what he thought it was.

"A gun, Baas," he answered anxiously.

Well might he be anxious, for as we both knew, no one in the
neighbourhood had guns except ourselves, and all ours were accounted
for. It is true that we had promised to give the majority of those we
had taken from the slavers to Bausi when we went away, and that I had
been instructing some of his best soldiers in the use of them, but not
one of these had as yet been left in their possession.

I stepped to a gate in the fence and ordered the sentry there to run to
Bausi and Babemba and make report and inquiries, also to pray them to
summon all the soldiers, of whom, as it happened, there were at the time
not more than three hundred in the town. As perfect peace prevailed,
the rest, according to their custom, had been allowed to go to their
villages and attend to their crops. Then, possessed by a rather
undefined nervousness, at which the others were inclined to laugh, I
caused the Zulus to arm and generally make a few arrangements to meet
any unforeseen crisis. This done I sat down to reflect what would be the
best course to take if we should happen to be attacked by a large force
in that straggling native town, of which I had often studied all the
strategic possibilities. When I had come to my own conclusion I asked
Hans and Mavovo what they thought, and found that they agreed with me
that the only defensible place was outside the town where the road to
the south gate ran down to a rocky wooded ridge with somewhat steep
flanks. It may be remembered that it was by this road and over this
ridge that Brother John had appeared on his white ox when we were about
to be shot to death with arrows at the posts in the market-place.

Whilst we were still talking two of the Mazitu captains appeared,
running hard and dragging between them a wounded herdsman, who had
evidently been hit in the arm by a bullet.

This was his story. That he and two other boys were out herding the
king's cattle about half a mile to the north of the town, when suddenly
there appeared a great number of men dressed in white robes, all of whom
were armed with guns. These men, of whom he thought there must be three
or four hundred, began to take the cattle and seeing the three herds,
fired on them, wounding him and killing his two companions. He then
ran for his life and brought the news. He added that one of the men had