While he was gone, in consultation with Mavovo, I made certain little
arrangements of my own, which need not be detailed. They were designed
to enable us to sell our lives as dearly as possible, should things
come to the worst. One should always try to make an impression upon
the enemy in Africa, for the sake of future travellers if for no other
reason.
In due course Stephen and the hunters returned with the guns, or most
of them, and reported that the slave people were in great state of
terror, and showed a disposition to bolt.
"Let them bolt," I answered. "They would be of no use to us in a row
and might even complicate matters. Call in the Zulus who are watching
at once."
He nodded, and a few minutes later I heard--for the mist which hung
about the bush to the east of the camp was still too dense to allow of
my seeing anything--a clamour of voices, followed by the sound of
scuttling feet. The slave people, including our bearers, had gone,
every one of them. They even carried away the wounded. Just as the
soldiers who surrounded us were completing their circle they bolted
between the two ends of it and vanished into the bush out of which we
had marched on the previous evening.
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