by sheer weight to be driving the
veterans back. The slaughter was truly awful, hundreds falling every
minute; and from among the shouts of the warriors and the groans of the
dying, set to the music of clashing spears, came a continuous hissing
undertone of "_S'gee, s'gee_," the note of triumph of each victor as he
passed his assegai through and through the body of his fallen foe.

But perfect discipline and steady and unchanging valour can do wonders,
and one veteran soldier is worth two young ones, as soon became
apparent in the present case. For just when we thought that it was all
over with the Greys, and were preparing to take their place so soon as
they made room by being destroyed, I heard Sir Henry's deep voice
ringing out through the din, and caught a glimpse of his circling
battle-axe as he waved it high above his plumes. Then came a change;
the Greys ceased to give; they stood still as a rock, against which the
furious waves of spearmen broke again and again, only to recoil.
Presently they began to move once more--forward this time; as they had
no firearms there was no smoke, so we could see it all. Another minute
and the onslaught grew fainter.

"Ah, these are _men_, indeed; they will conquer again," called out
Ignosi, who was grinding his teeth with excitement at my side. "See, it
is done!"

Suddenly, like puffs of smoke from the mouth of a cannon, the attacking
regiment broke away in flying groups, their white head-dresses
streaming behind them in the wind, and left their opponents victors,
indeed, but, alas! no more a regiment. Of the gallant triple line,
which forty minutes before had gone into action three thousand strong,
there remained at most some six hundred blood-spattered men; the rest
were under foot. And yet they cheered and waved their spears in
triumph, and then, instead of falling back upon us as we expected, they
ran forward, for a hundred yards or so, after the flying groups of
foemen, took possession of a rising knoll of ground, and, resuming
their triple formation, formed a threefold ring around its base. And
there, thanks be to Heaven, standing on the top of the mound for a
minute, I saw Sir Henry, apparently unharmed, and with him our old
friend Infadoos. Then Twala's regiments rolled down upon the doomed
band, and once more the battle closed in.

As those who read this history will probably long ago have gathered, I
am, to be honest, a bit of a coward, and certainly in no way give