come out of their caves, given one
war-whoop, and made a show of descending upon the besiegers, those
precious friendlies would assuredly have turned tail and bolted. But
the Matabele in the security of their caves made no such sign, and
Baden-Powell called up the Cape Boys and the Maxims in the nick of
time. In a few minutes the guns were in position on what looked like
inaccessible crags, and the Cape Boys shouting and cheering were
floundering through bogs, leaping over boulders, and firing with firm
hand wherever firing was of use. The fight was now begun in earnest,
and B.-P., on a rock directing the movements of his force, was
surrounded by the deafening roar of artillery. In nearly every cave
on those hills savages lay with rifle to shoulder, finger on trigger,
waiting to pick off the besiegers as they came bounding over the rocks
towards them. The Cape Boys never wavered; up they dashed, panting and
sweating, to the very mouths of the caves, fired their rifles into the
darkness, charged in, to reissue in a few minutes, jabbering to each
other, and then rushing off to "do ditto" wherever these man-holes
existed. Now they were creeping stealthily round rocks "like stage
assassins," now leaping forward through the long yellow grass like men
in a paper-chase,--always fighting well and pluckily, lifting up their
wounded and carrying them to places of safety, and then again joining
in the battle, charging without fear upon their maddened enemy,
parrying the thrust of sudden assegai with the bayonet that kills
almost in the instant that it guards. And while this work was going
on, a sudden corner revealed another string of rebels running down a
path. "For a moment," writes B.-P., "the thought crosses one's mind,
shall we stop to fire or go for them? but before the thought has time
to fashion itself, we find ourselves going for them." Again there was
the cheering rush, the rattle of rifles, and hard fighting till the
enemy was scattered. So the battle went on, and it did not cease until
the stronghold was completely cleared. Then the "flag-waggers"
signalled back to the main body for stretchers.[2] During this pause
Baden-Powell wrote an account of the fighting (illustrated), to be
sent home to his mother.

In this manner Babyan was beaten, and the victors went back to camp
satisfied with their day's work. On the following morning it was
discovered that a column sent by the General to attack the enemy on
the Inugu Mou