the surprise of the farmers when they heard a loud shout, and
beheld a white man flying for his life from a solitary savage. With the
promptitude of men born and bred in the midst of alarms, they seized
their guns and issued from their fortified enclosure to the rescue, but
the Kafir was already close to Orpin, and in the act of raising his
assagai to stab him.

Seeing the urgency of the case, Conrad Marais, who was considered a
pretty good shot among his fellows, took steady aim, and, at the risk of
hitting the white man, fired. The right arm of the savage dropped by
his side and the assagai fell to the ground, but, plucking another from
his bundle with his left hand, he made a furious thrust. Stephen Orpin,
swaying aside, was only grazed by it. At the same time he whirled the
stirrup once round his head, and, bringing the iron down with tremendous
force on the skull of his pursuer, hurled him to the ground.

"Stephen Orpin!" exclaimed Conrad Marais in amazement, as the trader
galloped up.

"You've got more pluck than I gave you credit for," growled Jan Smit.

"You'll need all your own pluck presently," retorted Orpin, who
thereupon told them that hundreds of Kafirs were on the other side of
the ridge, and would be down on them in a few minutes. Indeed, he had
not finished speaking when the ridge in question was crossed by the
black host, who came yelling on to the attack,--the few mounted men
leading.

"Come, boys, let's meet them as far as possible from the waggons," cried
Conrad.

The whole band of farmers, each mounted and carrying his gun, dashed
forward. When quite close to the foe they halted, and, every man
dismounting, knelt and fired. Nearly all the horsemen among the enemy
fell to the ground at the discharge, and the riderless steeds galloped
over the plain, while numbers of the footmen were also killed and
wounded. But most of those savages belonged to a fierce and warlike
tribe. Though checked for a moment, they soon returned to the attack
more furiously than before. The Dutch farmers, remounting, galloped
back a short distance, loading as they went; halting again, they
dismounted and fired as before, with deadly effect.

There is no question that the white men, if sufficiently supplied with
ammunition, could have thus easily overcome any number of the savages,
but the waggons stopped them. On reaching these, they were obliged to
stand at bay, and, being greatly outnumbered, took shelter