rn that night, which he promised to do,
mounted and left the camp at full speed, accompanied by an attendant.

There was ground for uneasiness and much caution in all this, for those
who knew Hintza best were wont to say that he possessed in a high degree
all the vices of the savage--ingratitude, avarice, cunning, and cruelty,
and his treatment of the traders and missionaries under his protection,
as well as his secret encouragement of the border chiefs, fully bore out
their opinion.

"Now!" exclaimed the chief in high spirits when Umtini had left, "you
need not go on to the Bashee, you will have more cattle than you can
drive on the Xabecca."

The path the troops were passing was a mere cattle-track leading up
hill, from the bed of the Xabecca river, among tangled brushwood, and
occasionally passing through a cleft in the rocks. Colonel Smith was
the only member of the party who rode up the hill; Hintza and the others
led their homes. On drawing near to the summit, the chief and his
attendants mounted and rode silently but quickly past the Colonel into
the bushes.

One of the guides observing the action called to the Colonel, who
immediately shouted, "Hintza, stop!"

The savage had no intention of stopping, but, finding himself entangled
in the thicket, was compelled to return to the track. He did so with
such coolness and with such an ingenuous smile, that the Colonel, who
had drawn a pistol, felt half ashamed of his suspicions, and allowed the
chief to ride forward as before.

At the top of the steep ascent the country was quite open. The Xabecca
river was seen in front with a few Kafir huts on its banks. Here the
chief set off at full speed in the direction of the huts.

Colonel Smith and three of the guides pursued. The latter were quickly
left behind, but the Colonel, being well mounted, kept up with the
fugitive. Spurring on with violence, he soon overtook him.

"Stop, Hintza!" he shouted.

But Hintza was playing his last card. He urged his horse to greater
exertion, and kept stabbing at his pursuer with an assagai.

The Colonel drew a pistol, but it snapped. A second was used with like
ill success. He then spurred close up, struck the chief with the butt
end of the pistol, and, in so doing, dropped it. Hintza looked round
with a smile of derision, and the Colonel, hurling the other pistol at
him, struck him on the back of the head. The blow was ineffectual.
Hintza rode on; the troops foll