el himself arrive, and we are sure to hear of
them in a day or two, unless some accident has happened, and I don't
know why we should expect that."

Poor Mrs Broderick's heart sank within her as she thought of the
possibility that such, notwithstanding Percy's hopes, might have been
the case. She could not but believe that Lionel was her long-lost boy,
and she longed with all her mother's heart for his arrival. She would
know him by his features, and by the tone of his voice, and she
recollected two small marks on the shoulders of her boy, which, if found
upon Lionel, would leave no doubt as to his identity, as that must
satisfy others as well as herself.

Though she wished Percy to go to sleep, she could scarcely refrain from
continuing to talk with him on the subject. At last his incoherent
answers, and finally his total silence, showed her that he was
slumbering soundly. She went to her daughters' room to give them an
account of what she had heard. They all three were unanimous in
believing that the brave boy Denis had been speaking to them about was
their brother. They had heard the history of little Walter's loss,
although they never alluded to it, and they had often observed a shade
of melancholy pass over their mother's countenance, which they guessed
was owing to her thinking on the subject.

The night passed slowly away. Captain Broderick was unwilling to trust
entirely to any one, except to himself and his son Rupert, or to his
young guest, who he at once saw possessed all the qualifications of a
good soldier. Either one or the other went occasionally to the point
whence the Zulus' camp could be seen. Their fire was burning as
brightly as ever, and for some time appeared to be increasing. It
diminished however in size just before daybreak, when one of the scouts
returned reporting that he had crossed the river, and not finding any of
the enemy moving about as he had expected, had got so close to their
camp as to be able to calculate the number of persons assembled. He was
certain that a portion only of the force which had pursued Mangaleesu
had crossed the river, or otherwise that their numbers had since been
greatly augmented.

Hearing this, Captain Broderick strongly suspected that they would again
present themselves and demand the delivery of those whom he felt in
honour bound not to give up. He counted the cost. He was aware that
they might ravage his fields and carry off many of his cattl