slight, though a blow from an axe, which had been hurled at me, and
which I had just warded off my ear, catching it on the elbow, had come
near disabling my right arm. We put our heads above the wall and
laughed at our cowardly enemies.

"Ha! dogs--jackals!" I cried. "Have you fought enough? We have not.
Come now, and have some more. We are but two, you are a nation. Does
the whole nation of the People of the Blue Cattle fear two men? What
then will it do before the hosts of the Great King?"

And we took snuff, laughing loudly at this army of cowards, who dared
not come within a certain distance of us.

"Wait there, black baboons! You are in a trap, ringed ape!" they cried,
jeering at our darker colour. "You are trapped, like the _tshukuru_ in
the pit. We will spear you at our ease!" And a few assegais came
whistling past our heads.

[Note: tshukuru means Rhinoceros.]

Then they hurled their spears up straight in the air, so they should
fall back on our heads. But we only made houses of our shields, and
laughed louder than ever, as the spears came down, "zip--zip," like
hailstones on the roof of a hut. We returned them to their owners, too,
for we taught them that Zulu warriors, when it came to spear-throwing,
had nothing to learn from any other race. This drove them back yet
further, and we sat and rested, and sang the war-song of the King.

Our plan was to remain there until dark, then to make a dash through
their lines, and this we had little fear of failing to accomplish,
wherefore we felt no great concern now. But what puzzled us throughout
was that Tauane should have treated the King's messengers with violence,
remembering how impressed he was upon our first visit to his country;
and not until afterwards did we learn the true reason, which was this.

During the time he had been in our midst, the slave who had deserted us
had learned that, great and formidable as our nation was, still it was a
fugitive nation--that behind it was a greater, from whose vengeance we
were fleeing. This he had imparted to Tauane, destroying in the minds
of that chief and his councillors the terror which our name and
appearance had at first inspired. A fleeing nation could not be a very
formidable one, they reasoned, looking around upon the wealth and
strength of their own settled and numerous people; and, accordingly,
they resolved to meet Umzilikazi's demands with quiet defiance,
detaining, meanwhile, the pers