'It is,' I said at last, 'absolutely necessary that an effort
of some sort should be made before the morning.'
'Then let us attack them with what force we can muster, and take
our chance,' said Sir Henry.
'Ay, ay,' growled Umslopogaas, in Zulu; 'spoken like a man, Incubu.
What is there to be afraid of? Two hundred and fifty Masai,
forsooth! How many are we? The chief there [Mr Mackenzie] has
twenty men, and thou, Macumazahn, hast five men, and there are
also five white men -- that is, thirty men in all -- enough,
enough. Listen now, Macumazahn, thou who art very clever and
old in war. What says the maid? These men eat and make merry;
let it be their funeral feast. What said the dog whom I hope
to hew down at daybreak? That he feared no attack because we
were so few. Knowest thou the old kraal where the men have camped?
I saw it this morning; it is thus:' and he drew an oval on the
floor; 'here is the big entrance, filled up with thorn bushes,
and opening on to a steep rise. Why, Incubu, thou and I with
axes will hold it against an hundred men striving to break out!
Look, now; thus shall the battle go. Just as the light begins
to glint upon the oxen's horns -- not before, or it will be too
dark, and not later, or they will be awakening and perceive us
-- let Bougwan creep round with ten men to the top end of the
kraal, where the narrow entrance is.
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