were to die that day
it should die hard.

While we lay thus thinking there came about a strange thing. Over the
heavens a lurid cloud had been spreading, and it might have been this
which had brought the matter back to men's recollection. For in the air
there thrilled the notes of that sweet, strange song--the Song of the
Shield. Did it spring out of the very heavens? None could tell. All
gazed eagerly up, for all heard it. Those who were weary and resting
sprang to their feet, filled with fresh life. Those who were binding up
wounds let that be, and, staring around, uttered ejaculations of awe and
surprise. It seemed to spring from beneath the brow of the great
iron-faced cliff, and to soar out thence in wreaths of sound. Could the
singer be there hidden? No; that was impossible. But we--we listened,
and it seemed that life lay outspread anew before our eyes.

Now there befell that which made our ears deaf once more to the Song of
the Shield. Afar on the plain beneath came into sight that which we had
been expecting--the remnant of the Zulu host, and the _impi_ which had
reinforced it, spread out in half-moon formation, covering an immense
distance. It swept on, black and terrible, and we could see the
glittering roll of its spear-points like the breaking crest of a huge
wave in the sunlight, could hear the sweep and clash of its shields like
winds shaking a forest. _Whau_! It looked terrible, that great _impi_,
Fresh and strong, it would eat us up easily, for it was almost double
our own numbers, and we were already crushed, dispirited, and weary.

And now the foremost of this new host came beneath, marching in dense
serried ranks, victory already gleaming in the eyes of the plumed
warriors almost visible to us where we lay; the countless array of broad
shields, and the splendid discipline of their march--all this we marked
as we lay. Sweeping rapidly onward they came, company after company.
Their numbers seemed to have no end, and then the war-song of Dingane
came rolling up the slope:

"_Us' eziteni!
Asiyikuza sababona_!"

Note:
"Thou art in among the enemy!
We shall never get to see them!"
Meaning:
"There will be none left by the time we come up!"

In fierce, long-drawn, throaty barks, the words were jerked forth, like
the baying of an army of large and ferocious dogs. And we were their
game. Then, as the song was hushed for a moment, there quivered forth
upon the air--this