and swept down on the
settlement, and burnt the huts, but they did not find a living human
being. Seeing the ship, they came down to the beech, and shouted to us
to come on shore. I knew they had no guns; so, ascending the rigging, I
called to the leading chief, and said: "Tell the Zulu dog that he is not
cunning enough. He sent me to the Pongola, so that he might murder the
white men without my knowing what he was going to do; but I came before
you to tell them. You may now go back again."

A yell arose from the Zulus when they heard this and recognised me, and
a hundred men dashed in the water and swam towards the ship. We allowed
these to come close and then fired at them, killing or wounding several;
the remainder then swam back to the shore and concealed themselves in
the wood. I knew the Zulus too well to believe they would give up at
once trying to kill the white men, and so I told my companions. We
therefore kept watch all day and all night, and it was lucky we did so;
for, just before daybreak on the following day, the Zulus again entered
the water and swam silently to the ship. The sailors, however, had now
made a very useful weapon: they had procured some large, heavy stones,
which they had sown up in canvas and fastened to long ropes. These they
threw on the Zulus, and stunned or sunk them. They could haul the
stones up again and throw them again. Except by the cable there was no
means by which the Zulus could climb into the ship, so we could kill
them just as we liked.

Finding they could do nothing against people in a ship, the Zulus
withdrew; and we thought that, as we did not see anything of them for
three days, they must have left Natal.

I felt quite certain that the chiefs would not give up trying to kill
the white men, for if they returned to the Great Zulu Chief without
being successful, some of them would be assagied to a certainty. At the
end of the three days the white men were desirous of going on shore, to
see what remained of their goods. I tried to persuade them not to
venture, but they replied that three days had now passed and not a Zulu
had been seen; so it was not likely that any were near Natal. But this
was the very reason why I thought it likely that they were waiting for a
chance. I told the white men so; but they only laughed at me and said,
"These niggers are off home now." Thinking that I might be of use in
keeping a better look-out than the white men, I went on