San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-08-18

wv nat. Sne sdlu, 10 you uOJ i've mere
in peace and plenty, and must you go to
make war on those who have not harmed
you, there perhaps to perish or come TO
other.ill? You say you do this to win a
girl for Dingaan and to find favor in his
sight. Has not Dingaan girls more than
he can count? 1t is more likely that
wearying of US, your wives, you go to
win girls for yourself, Bulalio, and as
for finding favor, rest quiet; so shall you
find most favor. If the king sends his
impis against you then it will be time to
fight, o fool with little wit"
Thus Zinita spoke to him, and UNI
slopogaas could not challenge her to
battle.
Now on the third day all the fighting
men were gathered, and there might
have been two thousand of them, good
men and brave. Then Umslopogaas
went out to them and spoke to them,
telling them of this adventure, and Ga
lazi the Wolf was with him.
Now great shout rose from every
throat.
1--WE will go with you, Bulalio, to vic
tory or death"
So on the morrow they went and trav-
eled fast, and after awhile entered the
territory of the Halakazi. AT dawn
| Umslopogaas looked out over the wide
plains beyond and Galazi showed him
long, low hill, two hours march away.
There, my brother" he said, sis the
head kraal of the Halakazi, where was
born, and in that hill is the great cave"
Then they went on, and before the
sun was high they came to the crest of
rise and heard the sound Of horns on
the farther side of the rise. They stood
upon the rise and looked, and lo yet far
off and running toward them, was the
whole impi of the Halakazi, and it was a
great impi.
Then Umslopogaas and Galazi made
ready for the battle. They posted all
the young men in the broken ground
above the bottom of the slope, for these
could best be spared to the spear, and
Galazi the Wolf took command of them;
but the veterans staid upon the hillside,
and with them Umslopogaas.
Now the Halakazi came on, and there
were four full regiments of them; the
plain was black with them and the air
was rent with their shoutings, and like
lightnings flashed their spears. On the
farther side of the slope they halted and
sent a herald forward to demand what
the People of the AK would have of
them. The Slaughterer answered that
they would have three things: First,
the head of their chief, whose place Ga
lazi should fill henceforth; second, that
fair maid whom men named the Lily;
third, thousand head of cattle. If
these things were granted then he would
spare them, the Halakazi; if not, he
would stamp them fat and take all.
So the herald returned, and when he
reached the ranks of the Halakazi he
called aloud his answer. Then a great
roar of laughter went up from the Hala-
kazi-a roar that shook the earth. The
brow of Umslopogaas the Slaughterer
burned red beneath the black when he
heard it, and he shook Groanmaker to-
ward their host.
"Ye shall sing another song before
this sun is set," he cried, and strobe
along the ranks speaking to this man
and that by name, and lifting up their
hearts with great words.
Now the Halakazi raised shout and
charged.
1t was soon done when once it was
begun. Some were fled and some were
dead, and this was the end of that fight.
No, no; not of all the fight The Hal
akazi were worsted in the field, but
many lived to win the great cave, and
there must the work be finished. Thither
then went the Slaughterer presently
with such of his impi as was left to him.
Alas! many were slain. But how could
they have died better than in that fight?
| Also those that were left were as good
as all, for now they knew that they
should not be overcome easily while Ak
and Club still led the way.
Now they stood before hill measur-
ing perchance three thousand PAGES
round its base. 1t was of no great
height and yet unclimbable, for after
man had gone up little way the sides
of it were sheer, offering no foothold to
the rock rabbits and lizards. No one
was to be seen without this hill, nor in
the great kraal of the Halakazi that lay
TO the east of it, and yet the ground
about this was trampled with the hoofs
of oxen and the feet of men, and from
within the mountain came the sound of
lowing cattle,
"Here is the nest of the Halakazi,"
quoth Galazi the Wolf.
"Here is the nest indeed, said Um-
slopogaas, but how shall we come at
the eggs to suck them2 There are no
branches to this tree"