hirty waggons drawn up in a laager upon a
knoll of ground, and among the waggons I saw Boers with their wives and
children. I tried to go up to speak to them, but a young Boer, seeing
me, shot at me with his gun, so I thought it safer to lie hid. At
nightfall, however, I met the driver of one of the waggons, a Kaffir
man, at some distance from the laager, where he was watching by a pit
made to catch bucks, and fell into talk with him. He told me that this
was a party of the Boers who had trekked from Cape Colony, and were
taking possession of Natal, and that there were other such parties
scattered about the country. He said that in this party there were
five-and-twenty men with women and children, but he did not know the
names of any of them. Also he told me that he meant to run away, as he
heard that Dingaan was going to attack the white people, and was sure
that if he did so they would be eaten up, for these Boers, thinking
themselves quite safe, had grown very careless, and neither made their
laager as strong as it should be nor set any watch at night. Having
learned this I returned at once to make report to you, nor did I come
too quickly, for the Zulus nearly caught me as I passed their ranks.
I saw Bull-Head as I ran; he is riding a brown horse, and seems quite
recovered from his wound."

"How far is the Boer laager from this place?" asked Sihamba before
Suzanne could speak.

"Lady, a man on a good horse could reach it in seven hours, nor is it
possible to mistake the way. After crossing the plain you enter the
gorge by the saw-edged rock yonder, and follow its windings across the
mountains till you come out the other side, where the river runs down to
the flat country. Then you can keep along the bank of the river as I did
when I went, or if you wish to go more quickly you must head for a large
white-topped hill, or koppie, which can be seen from the mountains, and
when you come to it you will find the Boer laager upon the knoll at its
foot, but near to the banks of the river, which winds round it."

"Oh! let us go; let us go quickly," said Suzanne springing to her feet,
for the thought even of seeing a white man again made her drunk with
hope.

"Alas! sister," answered Sihamba sadly, "an hour ago we might have gone,
or rather you might have gone, mounted on the great _schimmel_, but
now--look," and she pointed to where the Zulus clustered like bees along
the banks of the river by which the path ran. "See," s