by torchlight
and by the light of huge fires lit in the inside. No one thought of
sleep. Dogs barking, men shouting, children crying, women screaming,
pigs squealing, muskets firing (to see if they were fit for active
service and would go off), and above all the doleful _tetere_ sounding.
This was a huge wooden trumpet six feet long, which gave forth a
groaning, moaning sound, like the voice of a dying wild bull. Babel,
with a dash of Pandemonium, will give a faint idea of the uproar.

All preparations having been at last made, and no further tidings of
the enemy, as I may call them, I took a complete survey of the fort; my
friend the "Relation Eater" being my companion and explaining to me the
design of the whole. I learned something that day; and I, though pretty
well "up" in the noble science of fortification, ancient and modern,
was obliged to confess to myself that a savage who could neither read
nor write--who had never heard of Cohorn or Vauban--and who was
moreover avowedly a gobbler up of his own relations, could teach me
certain practical "dodges" in the defensive art quite well worth
knowing.

A long shed of palm leaves had been also built at a safe and convenient
distance from the fort. This was for the accommodation of the expected
visitors, supposing they came in peaceful guise. A whole herd of pigs
were also collected and tied to stakes driven into the ground in the
rear of the fort. These were intended to feast the coming guests,
according to their behaviour.

Towards evening a messenger from a neighbouring friendly tribe arrived
to say that next day, about noon, the strangers might be expected; and
also that the peace, which had been concluded with their tribe during
their absence, had been ratified and accepted by them. This was
satisfactory intelligence; but, nevertheless, no precaution must be
neglected. To be thrown off guard would invite an attack, and ensure
destruction; everything must be in order: gun cleaning, flint fixing,
cartridge making, was going on in all directions; and the outpost at
the edge of the forest was not called in. All was active preparation.

The path by which these doubtful friends were coming led through a
dense forest, and came out on the clear plain about half a mile from
the pa; which plain continued and extended in every direction around
the fortress to about the same distance, so that none could approach
unperceived. The outpost, of twenty men, was stationed at abo