having arrived that morning with the news that Cetewayo had refused all
demands and that large bodies of the Zulus were marching towards the
frontier to oppose the various columns collecting there.

On arriving at the government-yard the lads received orders at once to
unload the waggons and to take on the stores of the 2nd battalion of the
24th, which was to march from Grey Town the next morning. The start was
delayed until the afternoon, as sufficient waggons had not arrived to
take on their baggage. The road was rough, and it was late in the
afternoon before they arrived at the Mooin River.

The weather had set in wet, the river was in flood, and the oxen had
immense difficulty in getting the waggons across. Two teams had to be
attached to each waggon, and even then it was as much as they could do
to get across, for the water was so high that it nearly took them off
their feet.

The troops were taken over in punts, and, after crossing, a halt was
made for the night.

After seeing the cattle outspanned and attended to, the boys wandered
away among the troops, as they were to start at daybreak, and it was
long past dark before all were over. The tents were not pitched, and
the troops bivouacked in the open. Brushwood was collected from the
rough ground around, and blazing fires were soon burning merrily. It
was all new and very amusing to the boys. The troops were in high
spirits at the prospect of an early brush with the enemy, and songs were
sung around the fires until the bugle rang out the order, "Lights out,"
when the men wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay down, and the
boys retired to their snug shelter under the waggons, where their
Kaffirs had as usual laid piles of brushwood to serve as their beds.

The next morning they were off early, and reached the Tugela after five
hours' march. This river does not here form the frontier between
Zululand and Natal, this being marked by the Buffalo--a much larger and
more important stream--from the point where this falls into the Tugela,
some fifteen miles below the spot where they crossed the latter river,
which here runs towards the southwest. Two more days' marching took the
column to Helpmakaar. The weather was wet and misty, and the troops now
marched in close order, with flankers thrown out, for the road ran
parallel with the Buffalo, about five miles distant, and it was thought
possible that the Zulus might cross the river and commence hostil