. I think
that someone has told them of our coming, and that it is us they mean to
attack and not the Tongas, with whom they are at peace. My men say that
it is not usual for impis to visit this part of the country."

"Who could have told them?" asked Marais.

"I don't know, mynheer. Perhaps the natives have sent on word, or
perhaps--Hernan Pereira."

"I knew that you would suspect my nephew, Allan," he exclaimed angrily.

"I suspect no one; I only weigh what is probable. However, it is too
late for us to move to-night either south or westwards, so I think I
will sleep over the business and see what I can find out from my Zulus."

That night, or rather the following morning, the question was settled
for us, for when I woke up at dawn, it was to see the faint light
glimmering on what I knew must be spears. We were surrounded by a great
company of Zulus, as I discovered afterwards, over two hundred strong.
Thinking that after their fashion they were preparing to attack us at
dawn, I called the news to the others, whereon Marais rushed forward,
just as he had left his bed, cocking his roer as he came.

"For the love of God, do not shoot!" I said. "How can we resist so many?
Soft words are our only chance."

Still he attempted to fire, and would have done so had I not thrown
myself upon him and literally torn the gun from his hand. By this time
the Vrouw Prinsloo had come up, a very weird spectacle, I recollect, in
what she called her "sleep-garments," that included a night-cap made of
a worn jackal skin and a kind of otter-pelt stomacher.

"Accursed fool!" she said to Marais, "would you cause all our throats to
be cut? Go forward, you, Allan, and talk to those 'swartzels'" (that
is, black creatures), "gently, as you would to a savage dog. You have a
tongue steeped in oil, and they may listen to you."

"Yes," I answered; "that seems the best thing to do. If I should not
return, give my love to Marie."

So I beckoned to the headman of my Zulus whom I had hired at Delagoa, to
accompany me, and marched forward boldly quite unarmed. We were encamped
upon a rise of ground a quarter of a mile from the river, and the impi,
or those of them whom we could see, were at the foot of this rise about
a hundred and sixty yards away. The light was growing now, and when I
was within fifty paces of them they saw me. At some word of command a
number of men rushed toward me, their fighting shields held over their
bodies and their sp