the eastern gate, for
here we can do nothing more."

So they fled, those who survived of them, and after them came the
thousands of the foe, sacking and firing the deserted town as they
advanced.

Hokosa and his men, or rather the half of them, reached the gate and
passed it in safety, barring it after them, and thereby delaying the
attackers till they could burst their way through. Now hundreds of huts
were afire, and the flames spread swiftly, lighting up the country far
and wide. In the glare of them, Hokosa could see that already a full
two-thirds of the crowd of fugitives had passed the narrow arch; while
Nodwengo and the soldiers were drawn up in companies upon the steep and
rocky slope that led to it, protecting their retreat.

He advanced to the king and reported himself.

"So you have lived through it," said Nodwengo.

"I shall die when my hour comes, and not before," Hokosa answered. "We
did well yonder, and yet the most of us are alive to tell the tale, for
I knew when and how to go. Be ready, king, for the foe press us close,
and that mob behind us crawls onward like a snail."

As he spoke the pursuers broke through the fence and gate of the burning
town, and once more the fight began. They had the advantage of numbers;
but Nodwengo and his troops stood in a wide road upon higher ground
protected on either side by walls, and were, moreover, rested, not
breathless and weary with travel like the men of Hafela. Slowly,
fighting, every inch of the way, Nodwengo was pushed back, and slowly
the long ant-like line of women and sick and cattle crept through the
opening in the rock, till at length all of them were gone.

"It is time," said Nodwengo, glancing behind him, "for our arms grow
weary."

Then he gave orders, and company by company the defending force followed
on the path of the fugitives, till at length amidst a roar of rage and
disappointment, the last of them vanished through the arch, Hokosa among
them, and the place was blocked with stones, above which shone a hedge
of spears.

CHAPTER XX

NOMA SETS A SNARE

Thus ended the first night's battle, since for this time the enemy had
fought enough. Nodwengo and his men had also had enough, for out of the
five thousand of them some eleven hundred were killed or wounded. Yet
they might not rest, for all that night, assisted by the women, they
laboured, building stone walls across the narrowest parts of the valley.
Also the cattle, women and