ill shone that spark of home. Yet what she hoped for she could
not tell.

*****

When Philip Hadden reached civilised regions, he found that war was
about to be declared between the Queen and Cetywayo, King of the
Amazulu; also that in the prevailing excitement his little adventure
with the Utrecht store-keeper had been overlooked or forgotten. He was
the owner of two good buck-waggons with spans of salted oxen, and at
that time vehicles were much in request to carry military stores for
the columns which were to advance into Zululand; indeed the transport
authorities were glad to pay L90 a month for the hire of each waggon and
to guarantee the owners against all loss of cattle. Although he was not
desirous of returning to Zululand, this bait proved too much for Hadden,
who accordingly leased out his waggons to the Commissariat, together
with his own services as conductor and interpreter.

He was attached to No. 3 column of the invading force, which it may be
remembered was under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford, and on
the 20th of January, 1879, he marched with it by the road that runs from
Rorke's Drift to the Indeni forest, and encamped that night beneath the
shadow of the steep and desolate mountain known as Isandhlwana.

That day also a great army of King Cetywayo's, numbering twenty thousand
men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon the stony
plain that lies a mile and a half to the east of Isandhlwana. No fires
were lit, and it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors were
"sleeping on their spears."

With that _impi_ was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five hundred
strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the Umcityu
looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which he had
covered his body, and through the thick mist he saw a great man standing
before him, clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild-eyed man who held a
rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to, the man made no answer;
he only leaned upon his club looking from left to right along the dense
array of innumerable shields.

"Who is this _Silwana_ (wild creature)?" asked the Induna of his
captains wondering.

The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, "This is
Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in
this regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of Umgona,
was killed together with her father by order of the Black