front of the pursuit, who,
carried away by the irresistible dash and excitement of it all, were
already far beyond reach of recall. So the chase kept on, not always to
the advantage of the pursuers, for these would often turn--and then it
was as the fighting of a cornered wild animal. Mile upon mile this
fierce running fight went on, until the shades of evening began to
deepen, and then there was just one left, a young man, lithe and fleet
of foot; and he, beset by a relentless score, stumbled, gasping and
exhausted, his breath coming in labouring sobs, into a white man's camp,
to fall, prone, incapable of further movement, nearly across the white
men's fire.

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Note 1. A term of honour accorded to male members of the Royal House.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE REFUGEE.

"Yes, I'm afraid there's thunder in the air," said Joe Fleetwood, lazily
sharpening a well-worn sheath-knife upon the iron rim of a waggon wheel.
"All these runners passing to and fro--bristling with assegais, too,
and in too much almighty hurry to stop and talk--seem to point that
way."

"How'll that affect our scheme?" said Wyvern lazily; he was lying on his
back on the ground, his head on his hands and a pipe between his teeth,
looking the picture of ease and content. A little way off the waggon
boys--all Natal natives--were washing and scrubbing the enamelled metal
plates on which their masters had not long ago been lunching, chatting
among themselves in subdued tones; and, squatting apart, and throwing at
them an occasional remark, was a head-ringed Zulu. Away in front
stretched an amphitheatre of mountains, whose wall-like cliffs gleamed
in the afternoon sun.

"It may affect us this way," went on Fleetwood, "that if the rival
parties come to blows we may be expected to take sides or be chawed up
between the two."

"The deuce! Well, we didn't reckon on a second edition of '79, as part
of our plans, did we? It won't forward what we came up for, either."

"No, it won't. Another bad sign is we've done next to no trade. When
once it became patent we weren't gun-runners, they've kept at a
respectful distance."

They had come into the Zulu country as ordinary traders, with two
waggons. Fleetwood, of course, was well aware that under existing
circumstances trade would be almost at a standstill, but the waggon
loads were a pretext; a blind to cover their real intenti