stones. Once, indeed, they caused some of their oxen to leap out from
the height, in the hope that these might crush us, but they were
disappointed. We roared with laughter as the crushed beef fell before
us, harming nobody, and rolling down the slope in many a shattered and
bleeding mass.

At length, as the sun rose clear above the far horizon, striking
blood-red upon the iron walls of the great cliffs, a multitude of
persons was seen coming up the slope. A loud exclamation of
astonishment arose from the warriors as in these they recognised
prisoners whom we had taken on our march, and some few of the Bakoni who
had been spared in outlying kraals. They were panting and breathless,
but they dared not hang back, for they were urged on by the spears of a
number of our people behind, foremost among whom I described my brother,
Mgwali.

"Now, my children!" I cried. "Behold your bridge! These shall carry
us over the spike-studded ground!"

A roar of delight, of admiration, went up from the _impi_ as my plan
became clear. Forced onward, the exhausted groans and despairing
shrieks of the driven herd, the human herd, mingled with the loud yells
of their drivers. As the foremost of them swept past us a shower of
rocks from above crashed down upon them, splattering us with their
blood, yet even then they dared not waver, for the spears of the breast
of the _impi_ had now closed up behind them, goading them on, ruthlessly
slaying those who fell exhausted. On they rushed, several hundreds of
them, surging over the wall.

But the frantic shrieks of those who fell first upon the spikes availed
nothing. The remainder poured over them, for they had to do it--being
there for that purpose--and fell in their turn, and others behind them,
and so on, until not one of the sharp blades which so thickly studded
the ground was visible. All were buried within and beneath the bodies
of those we had driven over them. Then, as I gave the signal, the whole
_impi_ charged forward, trampling over this shrieking mangled mass of
human beings. But we were on clear ground again. My plan had
succeeded. I had thrown a bridge over that terrible gulf of spear
points--_a bridge built of the living bodies of our captives_!

As we sprang to the clear summit of the mountain we beheld outstretched
before us a broad table-land, grassy and level, and at the further end a
rocky cone. This space was alive with cattle and fleeing groups of
fugi