estimated; but the full strength of the party which had so disastrously
surprised them must have consisted of nearly twice that number. Then he
questioned them concerning the fate of his comrades. For answer they
grinned significantly, going through a pantomimic form of slaying a
prostrate enemy with assegais.

"All killed?" said Eustace, incredulously.

"No. Only the one who is with you," was the answer. "But the other two
will be dead by this time. Their horses were used up, and our people
are sure to have overtaken them long before they got to the river. _Au
umlungu_!" went on the speaker, "Were you all mad, you four poor whites,
that you thought to come into the country of the Great Chief, Sarili,
the Chief Paramount, and eat the cattle of his children?"

"But this is not his country. It belongs to Moni, the chief of the
Amabomvane."

"Not his country. Ha!" echoed the listeners, wagging their heads in
disdain. "Not his country! The white man's `charm' may be potent, but
it has rendered him mad."

"Ho, Sarili--father!" chorused the warriors, launching out into an
impromptu song in honour of the might and virtues of their chief.
"Sarili--lord! The Great, Great One! The deadly snake! The mighty
buffalo bull, scattering the enemy's hosts with the thunder of his
charge! The fierce tiger, lying in wait to spring! Give us thy white
enemies that we may devour them alive. Ha--ah!"

The last ejaculation was thundered out in a prolonged, unanimous roar,
and inspired by the fierce rhythm of the chant, the warriors with one
accord formed up into columns, and the dark serried ranks, marching
through the night, swelling the wild war-song, beating time with sticks,
the quivering rattle of assegai hafts mingling with the thunderous tread
of hundreds of feet, and the gleam of the moonlight upon weapons and
rolling eyeballs, went to form a picture of indescribable grandeur and
awe.

Again and again surged forth the weird rhythm:

Ho, Sarili, son of Hintza!
Great Chief of the House of Gcaleka!
Great Father of the children of Xosa!
Strong lion, devourer of the whites!
Great serpent, striking dead thine enemies!
Give us thy white enemies
that we may hew them into small pieces.
Ha--Ah! Great Chief! whose kraals overflow with fatness!
Great Chief! whose cornfields wave to feed a people!
Warrior of warriors,
whom weapons surround like the trees of a forest!
We return to thee d