Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-25

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pdeserspt 4hl u Nasla touciyne siAhste
81 thSfbJrly Duttl,raan, ~ hat d, his
bdpadl fhrs III up BY tlic last rays of the
setting sun, praying aloud In homely,
si4ple language 20 Him who alone could
saFe us from the spears Of q cruel foe,
remember that the last sentence Of his
prayer was. Almighty, II we must be
killed, save the women and children and
my little girl Tota from the accursed
Zulus and do not let us be tortured.r .
echoed the request very earnestly In
my own heart, that / know. for In com.
mon with the others ] was dreadfully
affaid, and II must be admitted not with
out reason
Then the darkness came on, and we
took up our appointed places, each with
a rifle In his hands, and peercd ont into
the gloom in silence. Occasionally one
OF The Beers would light his pipe with a
| brand from the smoldering fire, and tho
| glow Of It would shine for a few mo-
mants on his pale, anxious face.
Behind me one of the stout "fraus"
lay upon the ground. Even the terror
7 Of our position could not keep her heavy
eyes from their accustomed sleep, and
che snored loudly. On tho further side
Of her, just by the fire, lay little Tota,
wrapped in kaross She was asleep
also, her thumb In her mouth, and from
time to time her father would como TO
look at her.
So the hours wore on while we watt
ed for the Zulus. But from my In
1 innate knowledge of tho habits of ma
tives had little fear that they would at
tack VS. atnight, though, had they done
so, theygcould have compasaed our de-
! structioh with but small loss TO Them
selves. 1T Is not The habit Of thiB people,
they like TO fight in the light OF day--ati
dawn for preference. VI ~
About II o'clock, just as was nodding
n little at my post, heard low whistle,
outside the lager. Instantly vas wide
awake, and ali along the limo Ii,card ths
clicking OF locks as the Beers cooked
their guns ~
"Macunazahn," said voice, the voice
of daba,simbi, "ate you theres' e ~
"Yes, 4 1answercd
"Then Shold light so that can see
how to climb into the laager,' he said m
e"Yahl yah! hold a light" put In
one of tho Beers. "I don't trust that
black schcp psel of yours, Heer Quater-
men with him." Accordingly a lantern
was produced and held towards the
voice. There was fndaba- zirnbi alone.
Weilet him into the laager and asked
him tho news
This is the news, white men," he
said. II waited till dark, and creeping
up TO the place where the Zulus are en-
camped, hid myself behind stone and
! listened. They are great regiment of
| Umtetwaa, rs Buar Botha yonder
Thought. They struck the spoor Of tho
wagons three days ago and followed il.
! Tonight they sleep upon their spears,
tomorrow at day break they win attack
the laager and kill everybody. They
are very bitter against the Beers, because
of the battle at Blood river and the other
fights, and that is why they followed the
wagons instead of going straight north
after Mosilikaayye."
! A kind of groan went up from the
group of listening Dutchmen.
II tell you what it Is, heeren," said,
"instcad of waiting TO be butchered here
like n buck in pitfali, let us go out now
and fall upon the impi while it sleeps
This proposition excited somo discus
! sion, but in the end only one man could
he found to vote for it. Beers, rs n rule,
lack that dash which makes great sol
diers; such forlorn hopes hre not in their
line, and rather than embark upon them
! they prefer to take their chance In
laager, however poor that chance may
be- For my own part, / firmly believe
! that, had my advice been taken, we
| should have routed the Z,ilus Severn
teen desperate white men, armed with
guns. would have produced no small ef-
feet upon n camp of sleeping savages.
But II was not taken, so it is no use talk
ing about it.
After that we went back to our posts,
and slowly the weary night wore on to-
! wards the dawn. Only those who have
watched under similar circumstances
| while they waited the advent of almost
certain and cruel death, can know the
torturing suspense of those heavy hours.
But they went somehow, and ut last in
the far east the sky began to tighten,
while the cold breath of dawn stirred the
tits OF the wagons and chilled me to tho
bones. TIE fat Dutch woman behind
me woke with yawn, then, remember
ing all, moaned aloud, while her teeth
chartered with cold and fear. Hans
Botha went to his wagon and got bot
tle of peach brandy, from which he
poured into tin paunkin, giving us
each a still draw, and making attempts
TO be cheerful as he did So But his af-
fected jocularity only seemed 10 depress
his comrades the more. Certainly IL op.
Il pressed me.
! Now the light was growing, and wo
| could see some way into tho mist which
still hung densely over the river, and
now-ah! there it was. From the other
side of the hill, a Thousand yardsor more
from the laager, camea faint humming
sound grew and grew till ID gathered
to chant -the awful war chant of the
ZulusL Soon could catch tho words.
They were simple enough: -
We shall slay, we shall slay. Is it not SO. my
brothersp
Our spears shah blush blood red Is II not so, my
For we are the sucklings OF Chaka. blood Il our
milk, my brothers,
Awake, children of the Umtetwa, awakei
The NIture Wheels the jackai snIffs the air
Awake, children OF the Umtetwa-cry aloud. 70
ringed men; FaE E
There is the foe we shall slay them. u it not so
my brothGrsi q .4 ~
S'geel S'geei S'geei
Such is a rough translation Of that
hateful chant which often hear to this
very day in my dreams, 1t does not
ook particularly imposing on paper, but
4 the reader could have heard it as it
oiled through the still air from the
hroats Of nearly three thousand warriors