rection he hoped Rupert and his men would be coming.

"I see their waggon," he exclaimed, "although they appear to me to be
moving very slowly. I tell you what, Percy, the best thing I can do is
to set off and hasten Rupert and his men. It will be better to lose the
waggon than to have them cut off. Depend upon it, I'll not spare whip
or spur."

"Thank you, Mr Crawford; pray go by all means," said Mrs Broderick,
who had just then come out of the house. "I was wrong in letting Rupert
start, but I pray that he may be back before the Zulus reach the river."

"No fear of that, mother, as Crawford is going for him," said Percy.
"We'll get in the waggon too, with its load of meat, which will better
enable us to stand a siege."

Crawford, without further delay, threw himself on his horse, while Percy
returned to the platform to watch what the Zulus were about.

"They are still halting," he shouted out, "though I suspect they will
send forward scouts to reconnoitre our fortifications. Come up, girls;
come up, Biddy, and show yourselves on the ramparts. I am half inclined
to fire off the guns, but it may be wiser not to let them know that we
are prepared for them until they come nearer, as they probably expect to
take us by surprise, and the disappointment will be the greater when
they see armed men on the walls."

The young ladies and Biddy quickly climbed up, and Percy placed them at
intervals, with muskets on their shoulders, and told them to walk about
like sentinels.

"Now, Biddy, flourish your sword, and make it flash in the sun. That
will do famously. They'll see it in the distance, and suppose that we
have a dozen men with bayonets, at least."

The girls, forgetting any alarm they might at first have felt, laughed
heartily at Biddy's vehement gestures, as she carried out Percy's
directions to the full. Now she rushed to one end of the platform, now
to the other, giving vent to her feelings by various war shouts in her
native Celtic.

"You, Helen, keep a look-out on Crawford, and tell me how he gets on,"
said Percy, handing her the glass, having first taken a glance through
it himself.

"Yes, I can see him clearly," said Helen. "He is galloping along at a
tremendous rate, and I fancy that I can make out Rupert and the waggon
in the distance."

Helen, who had put down her musket, showed no inclination to take her
eye from the telescope.

"Hurrah!" cried Percy, "here come the herdsmen with the cattl