und a lion. As soon as
I had seen that the boat was in possession of the Zulus, I had concealed
myself in the bush to consider what to do; and I decided to work my way
up the coast about a mile, and then take to the beach and try to reach
the ship that way. Just as I had made up my mind to do this, I saw a
large party of Zulus marching from where they had killed the white men
towards the boat; and I noticed that they had put on the clothes of the
men they had killed, and at a distance might have been mistaken for
white men.

I lay still till all these men had passed, and watched their
proceedings. They sat down near the boat, and seemed to be having a
talk about something of importance. I tried to think what I should
propose had I been at the meeting, and the Zulus my friends; and,
knowing the Zulu tactics, I believed I could tell what they said almost
as well as if I heard them. My idea was that they would wait till it
was dark, and then get into the boat and pull to the ship; and, by the
aid of the clothes they wore, pretend to be white men, and get on board
the ship. If the men on board were not on their guard, this plan would
very likely succeed; and, knowing how careless and unsuspicious the
white men were, I believed the chances were in favour of the Zulus
succeeding in their attempt.

From none of the Zulus having followed me, I believed it possible that
they had not seen me before I rushed into the bush, when my companions
were attacked; but I knew the habits of the Zulus too well to be certain
about this. They had often told me that the best means to come within
assagy-range of a buck was to walk slowly round him, gradually narrowing
the circle, but never looking at him, and pretending that something in
the distance attracted your attention; then, when near enough, rush
forward towards the buck and throw the assagy.

If the Zulus had seen me, they must know I was concealed somewhere; and
the best method of capturing or assagying me was to set several men to
watch the country, and to remain perfectly concealed and quiet. This
plan they had already adopted for three days, and had succeeded in
trapping half of the white men. My best chance, therefore, was to
remain quiet until it was dark and then to attempt to reach the ship
before the Zulus could do so.

It required great patience to lie for several hours in the bush, not
daring to move; for, if I even frightened away a bird that had settled
near m