shield!"

We hurled ourselves forward, and for a moment nothing was heard but the
hissing of war-whistles and the rush of feet. Then--_au_! a crash as of
a wave upon a hard rock. So hard had we struck them, so fierce had been
the shock, that we rolled them back--at first. Hundreds lay dead and
writhing, and still the burning hiss of the spear as it did its work!

At first--only at first. They came at us again. They were closing
round us. I saw panic in my ranks.

"The shield! the white shield!" I roared. "Come beneath it, ye who
fear."

The shrinking, their spirits renewed, answered with a wild yell. Then
we "saw red" as we stabbed and struggled. Ha! they yield. Yes, that
dense host was falling back before us--before us--a handful of men! A
wild shout arose from its midst--a shout of dismay. And as we pressed
them, giving them not a moment wherein to recover themselves, we beheld
the reason.

Pouring around the end of the spur came a great cloud of dust, and
through it shields and spears. We needed not the alarm and confusion of
the Zulu host to tell us that these were our own people, as, indeed,
they were. It was Kalipe's _impi_. Roaring the war-shout of
Umzilikazi, they fell upon Mhlangana's force, and at the same time the
warriors who had issued from the pass assailed it furiously upon that
side. Dismay and panic now took hold of the great _impi_. Thus
suddenly attacked on three sides, realising that they had
under-estimated both our strength and strategy, the warriors of Dingane
turned and fled by the way which was still open, yet fast closing up,
and we--we purposely refrained from closing quite their way because we
could slay more of them in their flight, and with small loss to our own
side, whereas, did we hem them in--these fierce and desperate Zulu
lions--there was no foretelling the issue of the fray, for even yet they
were equal to us in numbers. Panic alone was their destruction.

But although we thus left a way open for them to flee, we pressed them
hard--_au_! we pressed them hard. We smote them as they fled, striking
them down by scores, but I and Kalipe, and the other war-captains were
too wary to allow this to continue, even if we had not seen the King's
signal of recall. So, singing in mockery after them the war-song of
Dingane, we left the pursuit and returned in triumph.

_Au, Nkose_! that was a sight. I have seen your countrymen lying in
heaps at Isandhlwana, and I hav