.

There was plenty to see, as it happened. Finding that they were not
pursued, Cetewayo's impi reformed swiftly at the bottom of the slope,
in preparation for another charge. Among that of Umbelazi, above them,
rapid movements took place of which I could not guess the meaning,
which movements were accompanied by much noise of angry shouting. Then
suddenly, from the midst of the Isigqosa army, emerged a great body of
men, thousands strong, which ran swiftly, but in open order, down the
slope towards the Usutu, holding their spears reversed. At first I
thought that they were charging independently, till I saw the Usutu
ranks open to receive them with a shout of welcome.

"Treachery!" I said. "Who is it?"

"Saduko, with the Amakoba and Amangwane soldiers and others. I know them
by their head-dresses," answered Maputa in a cold voice.

"Do you mean that Saduko has gone over to Cetewayo with all his
following?" I asked excitedly.

"What else, Macumazahn? Saduko is a traitor: Umbelazi is finished," and
he passed his hand swiftly across his mouth--a gesture that has only one
meaning among the Zulus.

As for me, I sat down upon a stone and groaned, for now I understood
everything.

Presently the Usutu raised fierce, triumphant shouts, and once again
their impi, swelled with Saduko's power, began to advance up the slope.
Umbelazi, and those of the Isigqosa party who clung to him--now, I
should judge, not more than eight thousand men--never stayed to wait the
onslaught. They broke! They fled in a hideous rout, crashing through
the thin, left horn of the Usutu by mere weight of numbers, and
passing behind us obliquely on their road to the banks of the Tugela. A
messenger rushed up to us, panting.

"These are the words of Umbelazi," he gasped. "O Watcher-by-Night and O
Maputa, Indhlovu-ene-sihlonti prays that you will hold back the Usutu,
as the King bade you do in case of need, and so give to him and those
who cling to him time to escape with the women and children into
Natal. His general, Saduko, has betrayed him, and gone over with three
regiments to Cetewayo, and therefore we can no longer stand against the
thousands of the Usutu."

"Go tell the prince that Macumazahn, Maputa, and the Amawombe regiment
will do their best," answered Maputa calmly. "Still, this is our advice
to him, that he should cross the Tugela swiftly with the women and the
children, seeing that we are few and Cetewayo is many."

The messenger l