natives to their fate entered
the heads of their allies. It would be a fight to a finish.

Leaving the conflagration to take its course every available man
hastened to the palisade. Rapid independent fire delayed but failed to
check the charge of ferocious, wildly shouting Askaris, whose courage
had been worked up by promises of rewards if successful, and dire
punishment in the event of failure. Full in the blaze of light the
horde of black faces gave the defenders the impression that they were
confronting a swarm of demons.

On both sides rifles cracked, steel crossed steel. Again spears and
arrows came into play, while some of the defenders hurled blazing
faggots with great effect upon the German levies. Yells, shouts and
shrieks of pain mingled with the rattle of musketry and the roar of the
burning huts.

Both sides fought stubbornly and furiously, but with this difference:
the defenders of the kraal were staking their existence upon the
result, the attackers, although under severe penalties in the event of
failure, were not confronted with the supreme decision that awaited
their foes.

Taking a favourable opportunity Wilmshurst and his squad climbed over
the palisade at a point where no attack was being made, and dropping to
the ground doubled in the direction of the now silent machine gun. It
was a daring stroke, as it temporarily weakened the little garrison,
where every rifle counted; but in the event of the raid proving
successful the possession of the deadly weapon would make all the
difference between victory and defeat.

Overtaking and avoiding numbers of wounded Askaris and a fair
sprinkling of Germans painfully making their way back to their lines
the raiders covered the intervening eight hundred yards in double time.
At the edge of the scrub the subaltern halted his men in order that
they might recover their breath.

They had discarded their rifles. Dudley and the Rhodesians were armed
with revolvers, Bela Moshi carrying an automatic pistol, formerly the
possession of a now defunct Hun, and a long, heavy, keen-edged knife
resembling the Mexican machete. Each man knew exactly what was
required of him, and, what was more, he was capable of carrying it out.

Creeping through the bush and outwitting a couple of Askari sentries
posted on the right front of the machine gun position the raiders came
in sight of their coveted prize.

The gun team was standing easy chattering furiously, and payi