hey would come
again,' he said, 'while the flare lasts; it may just hold out till dawn.
Unfortunately there's no more oil for to-morrow night!'

'Then we must drive them away by daylight!' said Morrison, who was a
sanguine youth, and as brave as a lion.

'Ah! if only they attack by daylight!' laughed Gadsby, 'but I doubt
whether they will be such fools, now they have learnt that we can sting,
and mean to sting!'

The flare-light did not last until daylight, however; it grew fainter
and fainter, and at length burnt out between two and three o'clock.

This was a great disaster, as we were soon to find out, for it was but a
few minutes after the last flicker had died away, and left the night
looking all the blacker after the bright light to which our eyes had
become accustomed, when we all distinctly heard the approaching of many
feet. Apparently the _impi_ was about to attack us in force.

Each man was at his position in a moment; Gadsby came round inspecting.

'I don't like this much, Vandeleur,' he said to me. 'How on earth are we
going to stop their rushes in the dark? We can only shoot on the
chance.'

'I fancy they will try and burn the house,' I replied. 'You will have to
be ready with those dynamite cartridges, and drop one or two among them
if they come too close.'

The cartridges referred to were used by Gadsby and his partner for
blasting rocks upon the estate; there were signs of gold here and there
on the land, and they were in the habit of making frequent
investigations, believing that there was a fortune for them on the farm
if only they could hit upon it.

'Yes,' replied Gadsby, 'I have them already. I think we had better not
fire at them until they are within a few yards of the house; we may then
catch a glimpse of them, and a volley may turn them.'

'They are the wrong colour for seeing in the dark,' I said, with a
laugh.

There suddenly arose a fearful yell of hundreds of voices, seemingly
quite close to the house, and Gadsby rushed quickly away to his station.

I looked out of my loop-hole, but it was still too dark to see anything
further than ten yards or so from my eyes. I could hear the Matabeles
running towards us, shouting and yelling furiously; the sound did not
appear to be more than a very few yards away. Suddenly a black mass
seemed to loom almost before my eyes. At the same moment, I suppose, the
other defenders caught sight of the approaching natives, for as I pulled
my own tr