ow, those
hear not the sound, wherefore it is we who need not fear. Behold it,
the white shield!" I cried again, in ringing tones, holding it aloft.
"We will die beneath it. But we yield not!"

"The white shield! We will die beneath it!" they chorused, springing
up, freshly heartened. But I restrained them, for I wished to parley
with Mhlangana and his leaders, only, however, to gain time in order
that, being rested, we might recommence that unequal fight with renewed
vigour. And then, to my unbounded surprise, I, looking up, beheld from
where the King sat on the heights above the signal to move downward--the
signal to charge.

_Au_! I hardly knew whether I were dreaming or already dead. To
charge? It was madness! Why, that host whose spears awaited us was
four times as great as our own, fresh and untired, and thirsting for
battle. It would eat us up in a moment. Umzilikazi's brain must have
turned at the impending fall of his power. Such an order was that of a
general gone mad. Or had the enemy, unknown to us, surprised and
captured the King, substituting others, even as we had done in the
matter of Mhlangana's outpost, who were signalling us to our sure and
easy destruction. All these thoughts flashed through my mind like
scorching fire: yet, even while this was so, I was already issuing my
directions, for with ourselves in those days, _Nkose_, an order was
given to be obeyed, not to be questioned.

And as we marched down--quietly at first--to fling ourselves in full
charge upon the Zulu host, we could hardly believe our ears. The sound
of a war-song rose upon the air, nearer and nearer, as though sung by
men coming up the great pass--

"_Yaingahlabi!
Leyo 'Nkunzi! Yai ukufa_!"

Ha! It was our own song--the war-song of the King. Our enemies heard
it, too, though the Song of the Shield had not floated to their ears,
being audible to ourselves alone, for the dense ranks, which had been
squatting on the ground as though to rest, sprang into life, and heads
were eagerly turned in the direction of this new force. We, however,
hoped but little from this, for those who had been left to guard the
defile under Gasibona would be but a mere mouthful in the open field of
battle. But, as I saw the shields of the foremost emerging from between
the cliffs, I glanced upward once more. The signal was to charge--to
charge swiftly, and at once.

"Follow me now, my children!" I cried. "Follow the white