Sentence:  Our bearers now began to call themselves Natal Kafirs, fearing to say they were Zulus before the young Amaswazi warriors, beplumed, <WSD>beshielded</WSD>, bespeared, perched about here and there in picturesque unconsciousness of their picturesqueness. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To provide or outfit with a shield.