ff, they would
clamber into the huge vehicles, or hang on behind in clusters, roaring
with laughter as some fellow tumbled off, or a whole bunch of them got
jerked into the air by an unexpected bump. Indeed, it became difficult
to drive the oxen at all. Gerard and Dawes were riding their ponies,
surrounded by the group of ringed men who had first visited their camp.
These, though evidently men of authority, seemed little inclined to
exert that attribute, and made no attempt to check the rowdiness and
horseplay of the younger warriors. Among these latter the poor Swazis
were having a bad time; being jeered and threatened, and in momentary
fear of sharing the fate of their countrymen whose mangled corpses lay
behind, another feast for the vultures. The Natal natives were treated
with more respect--especially Sintoba, who, marching beside his span,
seemed perfectly indifferent to all the brag and swagger of the armed
crowd. Indeed, once or twice, when they pressed him too close, he
menaced them with the butt end of his long whip-handle.

Thus in the midst of their most unwelcome escort did our two friends
proceed upon their enforced visit across the border of northern
Zululand.

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Note 1. The process of carrying out sentence pronounced against anybody
for witchcraft or other offence, and which may consist of the slaughter
of the individual and the confiscation of his cattle and wives, or the
massacre of himself and his whole family, or even of his whole kraal.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

"THE LION'S DEN."

The principal kraal of the Igazipuza lay in a great natural crater,
surrounded by cliff-crowned heights. Like all the Zulu kraals it wore
an excessively neat and symmetrical appearance in its perfect circular
formation; the dome-shaped huts, which could not have numbered less than
five hundred, standing between the double ring fences, which latter rose
as high as a man's chin, and being constructed of the thorniest of
mimosa boughs tightly interlaced, presented a formidable
_chevaux-de-frise_ to whosoever would cross or break through them. It
was a large and imposing kraal, as became the residence of an
influential chief, the head quarters of a powerful clan.

The situation of the place had evidently been chosen with no
insignificant eye to strategy. Shut in by its amphitheatre of heights,
the bushy hollow wherein it lay was accessible f