could hardly squeeze through it. We passed this without question,
being accompanied by Wambe's soldiers. Then, came a belt of land three
hundred paces or more in width, very rocky and broken, and having no
huts upon it. Here in hollows in this belt the cattle were kraaled in
case of danger. On the further side were more fortifications and another
small gateway shaped like a V, and just beyond and through it I saw the
koppie we had planned to seize looming up against the line of mountains
behind.

"As we went I whispered my suggestions to our captain, with the result
that at the second gateway he halted the cavalcade, and addressing
the captain of Wambe's soldiers, said that we would wait here till we
received Wambe's word to enter the town. The other man said that this
was well, only he must hand over the prisoners to be taken up to the
chief's kraal, for Wambe, was 'hungry to begin upon them,' and his
'heart desired to see the white man at rest before he closed his eyes in
sleep,' and as for his wife, 'surely he would welcome her.' Our leader
replied that he could not do this thing, because his orders were to
deliver the prisoners to Wambe at Wambe's own kraal, and they might not
be broken. How could he be responsible for the safety of the prisoners
if he let them out of his hand? No, they would wait there till Wambe's
word was brought.

"To this, after some demur, the other man consented, and went away,
remarking that he would soon be back. As he passed me he called out
with a sneer, pointing as he did so to the fading red in the western
sky--'Look your last upon the light, White Man, for the "Thing that
bites" lives in the dark.'

"Next day it so happened that I shot this man, and, do you know, I think
that he is about the only human being who has come to harm at my hands
for whom I do not feel sincere sorrow and, in a degree, remorse."

VII--THE ATTACK

"Just where we halted ran a little stream of water. I looked at it, and
an idea struck me: probably there would be no water on the koppie. I
suggested this to our captain, and, acting on the hint, he directed all
the men to drink what they could, and also to fill the seven or eight
cooking pots which we carried with us with water. Then came the crucial
moment. How were we to get possession of the koppie? When the captain
asked me, I said that I thought that we had better march up and take
it, and this accordingly we went on to do. When we came to the narr