hundred and fifty men, headed by myself, poured out of the
kraal, and getting into a rough line ran up the fifty or sixty yards of
slope that intervened between ourselves and the crest of the hog-backed
ridge. In thirty seconds we were there, and immediately beyond us was
the main body of the Matuku host waiting the onslaught of the enemy with
guns and spears. Even now they did not see us, so intent were they upon
the coming attack. I signed to my men to take careful aim, and suddenly
called out to them to fire, which they did with a will, dropping thirty
or forty Matukus.

"'_Charge!_' I shouted, again throwing down my smoking rifle and drawing
my revolver, an example which they followed, snatching up their spears
from the ground where they had placed them while they fired. The men
set up a savage whoop, and we started. I saw the Matuku soldiers wheel
around in hundreds, utterly taken aback at this new development of the
situation. And looking over them, before we had gone twenty yards I
saw something else. For of a sudden, as though they had risen from the
earth, there appeared above the wall hundreds of great spears, followed
by hundreds of savage faces shadowed with drooping plumes. With a yell
they sprang upon the wall shaking their broad shields, and with a yell
they bounded from it straight into our astonished foes.

"_Crash!_ we were in them now, and fighting like demons. _Crash!_ from
the other side. Nala's impi was at its work, and still the spears
and plumes appeared for a moment against the brown background of the
mountain, and then sprang down and rushed like a storm upon the foe.
The great mob of men turned this way and turned that way, astonished,
bewildered, overborne by doubt and terror.

"Meanwhile the slayers stayed not their hands, and on every side spears
flashed, and the fierce shout of triumph went up to heaven. There too on
the wall stood Maiwa, a white garment streaming from her shoulders, an
assegai in her hand, her breast heaving, her eyes flashing. Above all
the din of battle I could catch the tones of her clear voice as she
urged the soldiers on to victory. But victory was not yet. Wambe's
soldiers gathered themselves together, and bore our men back by the
sheer weight of numbers. They began to give, then once more they
rallied, and the fight hung doubtfully.

"'Slay, you war-whelps,' cried Maiwa from the wall. 'Are you afraid,
you women, you chicken-hearted women! Strike home, or die lik