al service to Percy and
Denis, but not for a moment did he regret having performed the duty he
had taken on himself.

On and on came the Zulus, confident in their numbers, evidently
believing that the fortifications of Falls Farm would afford no greater
resistance than the stockades of their kraals. Captain Broderick would
even now thankfully have avoided bloodshed, if the savages would have
given him the opportunity. He had hitherto lived at peace with his
neighbours, and had proved the result of judicious kindness to a large
number of Kaffirs, not further advanced in civilisation than those now
arrayed in arms against him. He ordered his men not to fire a shot
until he should give the command. As soon as the enemy got within hail,
he shouted, at the top of his voice--

"Why do you thus come to attack me? Beware before it is too late! I am
prepared to receive you, and make you repent that you come as enemies
instead of as friends."

He was well aware that the principal object of the Zulu chiefs was the
destruction of the farm, they having become jealous of its existence so
close to their own borders, for they considered that it afforded
protection to others besides Mangaleesu who desired to escape from their
tyranny, and who, from being kindly treated, became firm friends to the
English.

As soon as they understood the tenor of Captain Broderick's address they
began shouting and clashing their shields to drown his voice.

"Their blood be upon their own heads," he cried out to his own men.
"Remember to pick off the fellows with tall plumes. If we kill the
chiefs, their followers will quickly take to flight."

"We will see to that," answered Vermack with a grin, as he tapped the
lock of his rifle.

The other men, in various tones, responded to the same effect.

Although the Zulus shouted and shrieked, and rushed on as if resolved
that nothing should stop their progress until they were inside the
stockade, the resolute front exhibited by Captain Broderick and his men
evidently damped their ardour as they approached. Had the guns been
fired while they were at a distance, when the shot would have produced
comparatively little effect, they would have come on more boldly, but
the perfect silence maintained by the defenders puzzled them. They
observed also that there were fewer men on the walls than they had
before seen, and they began to fancy that an ambuscade had been formed,
by which they might suddenly