-there was still a round dozen for
trial. The Court-house at Grey Town was crammed. Natives especially,
had mustered in crowds, but so far from there being any turbulence, or
tendency to rescue, these were, if anything, considerably awed by the
very circumstances of the case itself. Most of them indeed had never
heard of the _Abangan 'ema zolweni_, and a new and stimulating matter of
discussion was thus supplied to them.

The confession of Ukozi, and of the others of course went far to
simplify the trial. Still, the fairness and impartiality for which
British jurisprudence is famous, was fully extended to the accused. I
personally can bear witness to a good hour in the box, most of which was
spent in cross-examination for the defence. The same held good of
Kendrew and Falkner, the latter of whom by the way, drew down upon
himself some very nasty remarks from the Bench, by reason of having
stated in answer to a question as to whether he had not expressed a wish
to see these men hanged--that he would cheerfully see every nigger in
Natal hanged if he had his way, and they had their deserts. But he
didn't care. As he confided to me afterwards, what did it matter what
an old fool in a gown said when he knew he couldn't have his head
punched for saying it.

Aida, too, was called upon to go through the ordeal, and of course she
did it well. In fact a murmur of appreciation ran through the native
section of the audience when she emphatically agreed with the defending
counsel's suggestion, in cross-examination, that she had not been
ill-treated in any way. There was, too, a great cloud of native
witnesses. Jan Boom, in particular, had a long and trying time of it,
but the Xosa was a man of parts, and a good bit of a lawyer himself in
his way. There was no shaking his evidence on any one single point.
Thus, as I have said, in spite of his confession, Ukozi and his fellow
accused were given every chance.

The indictment, so far, was confined to the murder of Hensley. Had it
broken down--which of course was inconceivable--the prisoners would have
been re-indicted for the murder of the native victims, of two, at any
rate, whose identity could have been easily established. Failing
necessity, for the sake of their relatives, in view of possible danger
involved to these, it was not deemed expedient to include them in the
formal ground of indictment. The verdict of course, could only be
"Guilty." The four--viz. Ukozi,