sh; and,
exposing myself as little as possible in the open country, made my way
across the marsh and through the bush to the beach. I there procured a
large branch of a tree, and waved it so as to attract the attention of
any one looking out from the ship.

I incurred some risk in doing this; for if any outlying party of the
Zulus were near they would have seen me and I could not easily have
escaped. But I was obliged to show myself on the beach, so as to
attract attention, or I feared the ship might leave without sending a
boat on shore. I watched with considerable anxiety for some sign of a
boat from the ship, but it must have been several hours before I saw a
sail set on the vessel, and she began to move. I now noticed that the
tide was high, and that there was but little surf on the bar, so that it
was possible the vessel, which was small, might intend coming into the
bay. My doubts were soon set at rest, for she headed towards the bluff,
and came slowly on, and after being washed by one or two breakers as she
was on the bar, she came into smooth water, and glided into the harbour
and cast anchor.

I did not wait for a boat, but jumped into the water and swam to the
ship, from which a rope was thrown me and I climbed on board. The
sailors and captain looked at me with much surprise, and I now found an
unexpected difficulty, viz., to speak English readily. I, however
managed to improve as I went on, and told the captain what had happened
at Natal; and how the white men had been massacred by the Zulus, except
those who had escaped in the ship. The captain had heard nothing of
what had happened here, as he had come from the Mauritius, and the ship
that had sailed out of the harbour had gone down the coast to Cape Town,
and the communication then between various places was not as rapid as it
is now. This ship required fresh meat, and the difficulty was how to
procure it. All the cattle had been swept off by the Zulus, except that
which had been concealed by my friends across the Umlass river; and
there would be difficulty in communicating with these men, as it was not
certain some strong force of the Zulus might not be in the bush
concealed.

The captain of the ship was very kind to me, and fitted me with a suit
of sailor's clothes, and assured me he would take me down to Cape Town,
from whence I could obtain a passage to England. He told me that
nothing had ever been heard of the _Madagascar_, the ship in