ure, and
tried to guess what had become of the men of the party. The Caffres had
managed their slaughter so quietly that it was not till I could speak
the language that we discovered what had happened to them. On the first
night at this kraal the moon was full, and all the men belonging to this
village and also those from several near it assembled, and, lighting a
large fire, sat in a circle round it, and sang songs the whole night.
We could not sleep in consequence of the noise, and we did not feel
certain that we were not going to be killed and roasted at the fire, for
we knew so little of the Caffres that we believed them to be cannibals.

It was just at daybreak when a Caffre came to the kraal and beckoned me
to come out, saying "_E-zapa_" which meant "Come here." Thinking I was
to be taken out and roasted, I clung to Constance and cried; but the
Caffre dragged me away, and led me to where there were some dozen men
sitting apart and talking. When I was dragged to where they were
sitting, I was made to sit down, and a long conversation took place, two
men seeming to be arguing with each other: one was the Inkose who had
captured us, the other I had never seen before.

Had I then known the subject that was being discussed between them, I
should have been more frightened than I was, but luckily all was settled
without my knowledge. When the men of our party had been assagied, the
orders were to spare the females; and I was supposed to be a little
girl, as I was always with the ladies. The Caffres, however, soon found
out that I was a boy, and the question now was whether I should be
assagied or allowed to live. The chief was in favour of my being
allowed to live, and determined to take me as his adopted son; whilst
another chief recommended that I should be put to death. It took some
hours for the council to talk over the matter, but at length it was
decided that I was to be allowed to live, and was at once to be brought
up as a Caffre.

CHAPTER THREE.

Immediately the council broke up I was taken by the chief Inyati to a
kraal about ten miles distant from that in which Mrs Apton and her
daughter and Constance were stopping. I took a fancy to Inyati, and
tried by signs and a few words which were a mixture of English and
Hindostani, to ask him where I was being taken to. He seemed to
understand my meaning, for he smiled, gave me a pat on the head, and
gave me a knob-kerrie and an assagy to carry. Upon