"Fare-ye-well, my brothers," he said. "Perchance I shall visit ye in
this new land, when ye come to dwell in it. Depart now in peace to your
countrymen, and tell them how good are the hearts of the Amazulu towards
you, how good the heart of their King. Fare-ye-well! _Hambani-gahle_."
["Go ye in peace."]

Dingane had risen while he was speaking, and now, with these words, he
turned to depart. The Amabuna, too, had risen.

"The white man's mouth opens very wide;
It shall be filled--it shall be filled."

So howled the singers; and lo! a mass of warriors swept in between the
King and these strangers; we, the _izinduna_, being outside the circle.
With alarm now in their faces, the Amabuna turned quickly towards the
gate whereby they had entered. But on that side, too, the circle was
complete. Then they knew that their time had come. They were walled in
by a dense array of stalwart warriors.

Now began such a struggle as never could have been seen. Our people had
sticks, but were otherwise unarmed, for they might not kill within the
precincts of the King's kraal. The Amabuna, too, were unarmed, for it
was to this end they had been obliged to leave their guns outside the
gate. But many of them were large and powerful men, and all fought with
the courage of desperate men. They struck out with their fists, and
with their feet; they tore out eyes; some were able to draw knives, and
with these they slashed and thrust, making the blood fly in spouts.
_Whau_! That was a struggle--that was a sight. _Whau_! Hither and
thither it swayed--that heaving, striving mass--the shouts and curses of
the desperate Amabuna rising hoarse amid the din and scuffle of feet,
the gasping and the yells, as those of our warriors who were on the
outside of the struggle encouraged those within it by yell and whistle.
_Whau_! How they howled and leapt, how they swung to and fro, how they
even rolled on the ground--great heaps of men piled high upon each
other, but all kicking, all struggling. But it could not last, for what
could three-score and ten men, all unarmed, however valorous, do against
a thousand, or, indeed, several thousand? They were borne down and
overpowered at last--some were bound with thongs--but all were dragged
out from Nkunkundhlovu to the place where those were killed whom the
King adjudged to die, and there beaten to death with sticks, as the
usual manner was.

"_Hau_! The head of the snake is now crushed