by G. A. Henty
seen moving about, but there wasno trace of the white troops. They made their way to the back of thehill, and then, to their horror, saw the column moving away from them,and already half-way on its road to Rorke's Drift.
Their first impulse was to get up and start off in a run in pursuit ofit, but this feeling lasted but a moment, for between the hill and thecolumn many scattered parties of Zulus were to be seen. The boys lookedblankly at each other. It was but too clear that they were cut off andalone in the enemy's country.
"Whatever shall we do, Dick?"
"I have not the least idea, Tom. At any rate there is nothing to bedone at present. We should be assegaied in a moment if we were to godown; let's go back to our old look-out."
After much talk they agreed that it would be hopeless to attempt to makesouth and cross the Buffalo, as many of the fugitives had done. Therewere sure to be strong bodies of Zulus along the river, and even if theypassed these without detection they would be unable to cross the river,as they would find no ford, and neither of them was able to swim.
There were great numbers of Zulus in the camp below, and these seemed tobe pursuing the work of plundering more minutely than they had done onthe previous day. The stores scattered recklessly about were collected,placed in empty barrels, and loaded up on the waggons. Presently anumber of cattle were brought down; these were harnessed to the waggonsand driven off, and by nightfall nothing save scattered remnants markedthe place where the British camp had stood. But from their post theboys could see that the ground far and near was dotted with corpses,black and white.
After nightfall the boys descended to the camp, and having marked theexact spot where the waggons had stood were able to collect a number ofpieces of the broken biscuit scattered about; they were fortunate enoughto light upon a water-bottle still full, and with these treasures theyreturned to the post on the mountain. They had agreed to wait there forthree or four days, in fact as long as they could hold out, and thenquietly to walk into one of the native kraals. If caught in the act offlight they were certain of being killed, but they hoped that when theZulus' blood had cooled down after the conflict their lives mightpossibly be spared.
This plan was carried out; for four days they remained on the hill ofIsandula, and then descending late one evening to the plain walked forten or twelve miles north, and waiting until daybreak showed them alarge native kraal at no great distance, they made for it, and satquietly down at the door of the principal hut. Presently a girl issuedfrom a neighbouring hut, and, upon seeing them, gave a scream and ranback again. The cry brought others to the doors of the huts. When theboys were seen, a perfect hubbub of tongues broke forth, and many of themen, running out with their spears, advanced towards the lads. They satperfectly quiet, and held up their hands to show that they were unarmed.The Zulus hesitated. Dick went through the motion of eating anddrinking, and in his best Kaffir begged for a glass of water.
The Zulus, seeing that the boys were alone, approached them, and beganto ask them questions, and were evidently much surprised at hearing thatthey had escaped from the massacre of the British. From the door of thehut in which they were sitting a chief, evidently of high rank, for theothers greeted him respectfully, now came out.
After the cause of the tumult was explained to the chief, he ordered theboys to be bound. This was done and they were put into an empty hutwhile their fate was decided upon; after much deliberation it was agreedby the Zulus that, as they were but boys and had come into the campunarmed and of their own accord, their lives should for the present bespared.
It happened that in the village were a party of men who belonged to thetribe of Umbelleni, whose territory lay to the north-west, and thesevolunteered to take the prisoners to their chief, who was one of thestrongest opponents of the English. His country, indeed, lay justwithin the Zulu frontier, and, having been engaged in constantskirmishes and broils with the Dutch settlers, he was even moredisappointed than the other chiefs at the taking over of the Transvaalby England, just at the time when the Zulus were meditating itsconquest.
The road from Itelezi, the village at which the boys had giventhemselves up, to Umbelleni's country ran along between the Blood Riverand the lofty hill-country; and, although they were ignorant of thefact, Colonel Wood's force was at that moment lying on this line. Theywere therefore taken up over a mountain-country, crossing Mount Ingwe,to the Zlobani Mountain, a stronghold ten miles south of Umbelleni'schief kraal, and where at present he was residing. After three days'journey the lads, exhausted and footsore, ascended to the plateau of theZlobani Mountains.
Upon their way they passed through many villages, and at each place itneeded the efforts of their guards to prevent their being seriouslymaltreated, if not killed. The Zulus, although victorious at Isandula,had suffered terribly, it being estimated that nearly 3000 had fallen inthe attack.
Thus there was not a village but had lost some of its members, for,although the Zulu regiments have local denominations and regularmilitary kraals, each regiment consists of men drawn from the populationat large.
Every four or five years all the lads who have passed the age ofeighteen since the formation of the last corps, are called out andformed into a regiment, or are embodied with some regiment whose numbershave fallen in strength. Thus a regiment may consist of men differingconsiderably from each other in point of age, the great distinctionbeing that some corps consist entirely of married men, while others areall unmarried. A regiment remains unmarried until the king formallygives the permission to take wives, and the corps to whom the boon hasbeen granted are distinguished from the others by their hair beingarranged in a thick ring round the head. So great is the enmity betweenthese married regiments and their less fortunate comrades that they arenever encamped in each other's view, as fighting in that case wouldinevitably take place. Thus it happened that, although some of thecorps had suffered far more than others, the loss was spread over thewhole of Zululand.
CHAPTER SIX.
ZLOBANI.
While disaster had fallen upon the centre column, the division underColonel Evelyn Wood had been showing what could be done when care andprudence took the place of a happy-go-lucky recklessness. It hadadvanced from Utrecht on the 7th of January, and had moved up to thefrontier at Sandspruit. At two in the afternoon of the 10th it movedforward, halted at six, and again advanced by the light of the moon athalf-past one in the morning; a mounted advance-guard was thrown out,flanking patrols were organised, and the troops moved in the greatestsilence.
The next day Colonel Buller, with his irregular horse, went out, andafter a skirmish with the Zulus brought in a thousand cattle, andCaptain Barton, with a party scouting in another direction, captured550.
On the following morning a reconnaissance in force was made, and a gooddeal of skirmishing took place; but, as Colonel Wood never allowed hismen to follow the Zulus into rough ground, the latter were unable toeffect anything against the column. This division advanced forward butslowly, as it was intended that they should keep within reach of theleisurely-moving central column.
After several slight skirmishes the news reached them on the 24th of thedisaster of Isandula, and with it Colonel Wood received orders to fallback; and on the 26th he encamped at Kambula. Raids were made in alldirections with great success; the great military kraal of Manyamyobawas captured and destroyed by Colonel Buller and his cavalry. AsColonel Wood's was now the most advanced column, Colonel Rowlands, witha wing of the 80th and a couple of guns and 200 Swazis, together withRaaff's Horse and Wetherby's Borderers, were sent as a reinforcement tohim.
The Zulus were not idle, and Umbelleni and Manyamyoba made severalsuccessful raids across the border and destroyed the kraals of nativesfriendly to the English. These two chiefs were not regular Zuluchieftains; both were adventurers who had gathered under them numbers ofbroken men, and had for years carried on raids on their own account fromtheir mountain-stronghold, in much the same way that the Scotchborderers of olden times harassed the cou
ntry on the English side of thefrontier.
Oham, the king's brother, with his own following, came into ColonelWood's camp, and gave himself up, saying that he was altogether opposedto the war.
The boys on their arrival at Zlobani were brought before Umbelleni.That chief briefly gave orders that they should be killed; but two orthree of his headmen represented to him that they might be of use; theywould be able to carry a message to the British camp, should he desireat any time to send one; by their appearance and dress, they could tellhim the nature of any troops they might intend to attack, and could readand explain any letters which might be captured on messengers; finally,they might be an acceptable present to send to Cetewayo, who might notbe pleased if he heard that prisoners had been killed in cold blood.
Umbelleni assented to the reasoning, and ordered the boys to be taken toa hut. The Zulu dwellings resemble in form great bee-hives. They arecircular and dome-roofed; the