s. Everything was done in
silence; a wave of the arm by Inyati was sufficient for an order, his
hand held upright halted the whole party. Since then I have seen
English soldiers at drill, but I never saw better discipline than I saw
among these Caffres. When we were all placed in the positions allotted
to us, a shrill whistle was the signal that all was ready, and the men
at the far end of the bush advanced, beating the bushes and making a
noise so as to frighten the buffaloes, and make them retreat from the
ravine in the required direction. The boys on the top of the ravine
soon saw the animals moving through the bush, and signalled to us,
imitating their movements. It was amusing to see how well these boys
acted. Two of them pretended to be buffaloes, and when the buffaloes
moved on they moved; when the buffaloes stopped and listened, the boys
stopped and imitated every movement, twisting round and round, just as
these animals do when alarmed.

Nearer and nearer came the buffaloes, but there was not a movement among
the men who were waiting for them. When the animals came near the edge
of the bush they seemed to become suspicious, and we could hear them
sniffing the air and snorting, though they did not move for some time.
The boys did just as they saw the buffaloes do, and we thus knew all
about them. Suddenly we saw the boys rush forward in our direction, and
almost at the same time the buffaloes charged out of the bush. Inyati
whistled shrilly, and in an instant a hundred men dashed in between the
buffaloes and the ravine, and cut off their retreat, whilst the other
men who had hitherto lain down sprang to their feet, in front of the
animals. No time was given to the buffaloes: the men closed all round
and assagies were hurled at the animals, and in a few seconds they were
covered with assagies, just as a porcupine is with quills. The buffalo,
however, is a powerful animal and dies hard; so, although badly wounded,
they turned, one towards the ravine, and charged at the men there, the
other came towards where I was. The buffalo that went towards the
ravine was met by a shower of assagies, but he dashed straight on, and
knocked over three or four men, and escaped into the ravine. The other,
putting its head down, came at me, I suppose, because my white skin
attracted his attention. The Caffres jumped right and left as he came
close, and left me standing alone. The men called to me to jump, but I
waite