THE SONG OF THE SHIELD.

The regiments, organised and armed, and decorated for war, filed through

the great entrance of the kraal Kwa'zingwenya, and formed up in a vast

half-circle upon the plain outside, whither the King had already

proceeded, and the _Bayete_ was roared forth in tremendous volume as the

Great Great One stalked majestically into the open formation thus left.

His words were few:

"Warriors," he said, "yonder is a nation's death or a nation's life."

Then he gave the signal for the war-dance to begin.

This was short, for we had no time to spare for ornamental ceremonies.

When the dance and the song were at their height, they ceased suddenly,

and there was dead silence.

Umzilikazi was standing in the midst, clad in his full war costume of

white flowing hair and leopard-skin and beadwork, his head crowned with

nodding ostrich plumes of black and white. In his left hand he held his

lion-skin shield, tufted with the tail of the beast, and a light casting

spear.

Now, as we waited, breathless, he took the little assegai in his right

hand, and, poising it for a moment with a quivering motion, he hurled it

from him--hurled it fast and far--in the direction of the Pass of the

Inkume, in the direction of Dingane's _impi_, and, as it fell to earth,

he pronounced in a loud voice--

"Go, children of Matyobane!"

A great and mighty shout rent the air, and, falling into marching rank,

my own company of The Scorpions leading, our _impi_ set forth. In

strength we numbered about seven thousand, of whom between two or three

thousand were those who had been enrolled from among conquered peoples,

and, of course, not equal to those of pure Zulu blood. The strength of

Mhlangana's _impi_ I could only guess, but estimated it to be about ten

thousand strong. Wherefore, you see, _Nkose_, our chances were not

great, and depended almost entirely upon our being able to strike the

enemy unexpectedly, and roll up his battle rank in the panic of

surprise.

While these preparations were going forward, the white _isanusi_, sad

and troubled at heart, in the course of his wanderings ran against

Lalusini, who gave him greeting.

"Will your _muti_ avail to bring victory to yon host, my father?" she

said, with her sweet smile.

"I know not. If it is the will of the Great Great One who sent me, I

have no fear," he answered.

"Is your power, then, so doubtful, O maker of strange ceremonies?" she

went on.

"I pretend to no magic; on the contrary, I reprobate such," said the

white priest, shaking his head, for he distrusted and disliked the

beautiful sorceress. "It is not given to us to pry into the future,

which is in the sight of One alone."

"Why, then is my _muti_ greater than yours, white stranger," she

replied. "For I _can_ look into the future, and I foresee that this

nation shall win the battle. Yea, I know this."

"I hope it may be so, Lalusini," said the white man, still sadly. But

the other women who stood by, hearing this presage, cried aloud in

astonishment and delight, repeating Lalusini's words again and again,

till they had turned them into something of a song.

As we marched forth thus to war the sky was by degrees blackening up for

rain, and a deep, distant roll of thunder was heard from time to time

creeping over the ridge of the world. The old women, whose furrowed

faces and ragged top-knots stuck over the kraal palisades as they

watched us deploy into rank, were dumb and shaking with apathy and fear,

for in them still lived an ingrained terror of the might of Tshaka,

whereas we young people had almost forgotten it, and with us it was a

mere tradition. Of young women and girls there seemed to be none in the

kraal, or if there were they were keeping in hiding. And though my

thoughts now were all of war, I could not refrain from looking backward

to try and obtain a glimpse of Lalusini. But in vain.

Not backward should I have looked, however, but forward; for now, as we

turned the corner of a hill, a sound as of singing was heard in front.

_Whau_! There on a little rise stood Lalusini herself. She was arrayed

in her beautiful beaded dress, and wore her heavy golden ornaments.

Behind her came a great number of girls, all carrying green boughs in

their hands and singing songs of war and of victory, as was their wont

to hearten us when we set out upon any expedition of weight and

importance.

As we came near, Lalusini drew a little apart from the rest, and

standing thus upon the summit of the rise, in full view of the whole

army, her proudly-reared head and splendid form thrown out by the livid

thundercloud behind the hill, she lifted up her voice and sang, this

time not in the dark tongue of the Bakoni, but in pure Zulu. And the

wild sweetness of her voice was of the sort which renders warriors mad.

"A song of the Shield,

In the battle's ring!

A droop of the Shield

Guards the life of a King.

"Proud tuft, proud hide,

Which the White Bull gave!

Now the White Bull's pride

Shall a nation save.

"Burnt kraal, stamped field--

Thick the vultures soar,

And laugh o'er the Shield

In the van of war.

"Rolls the battle song

On the war-wave's crest,

Bringing might to the strong,

To the weak ones--rest.

"Great is small,

Little is great.

Who may fall

In the coming Fate.

"Who may fear

On the death-soaked field?

None who hear

The Song of The Shield!"

Now the last words were taken up by her band of attendant girls, but the

voices of these were soon lost in the great rolling volume of the

warriors' chorus, which was caught up and tossed along the ranks as the

roaring of a mighty ocean--

"Who may fear

On the death-soaked field?

None who hear

The Song of The Shield."

As they marched past, a quick, keen flash darted down from heaven

immediately upon the singer, whom all men thought was stricken--yet not;

for in the sudden silence that followed, and the muttering rumble of the

thunder-tone, she still stood--that splendid daughter of a race of

kings--her eyes still turned skyward, her form outlined in its beautiful

curves against the livid blue of the storm-cloud.

After this we marched in silence, no more singing or noise of any kind

being allowed. But as we held on swiftly through the night, this great

array of armed men, like a destroying flight of locusts in its straight,

fell course, the echo of that wonderful song was still in every ear, its

burden in every heart; and it seemed to each warrior that he had the

strength of ten; for the Song of the Shield was surely the song of

victory.

To us came from time to time runners, bearing tidings from Mgwali. No

move forward had been made by the _impi_ from Zululand, yet now and

again, far below upon the plain, our outpost, which had taken the place

of that of Mhlangana, could discern a point of white, which was the

swift signal of those who had been posted at intervals to watch, and

pass along word to Dingane's leaders.

"_Whau_! We will give them a brave good-morning, Untuswa," said the

King, as, having gained our position along the ridges of Inkume, shortly

after midnight, the Great Great One and I had crept carefully up to

Mgwali's outlook. "See, now, I desire not to hurry the battle, yet the

sun will not be very high before we shall whisper them to come on. Thy

strategy has been good, Untuswa, yet perchance they will remember the

pass in the Kwahlamba and fear to enter this. Ah! would that we could

roll down the mountain itself upon them here as there. It would save us

many men."

This we could not do, for the straight cliffs shooting up from, the

defile were smooth and firm. No loose rocks were here, hardly a few

small stones, so firm were the iron crests of the mountain.

Now I had endeavoured to dissuade the King from accompanying us,

pointing out that in the event of our destruction he could, on receiving

tidings thereof, safely fall back upon Kalipe's _impi_ and thus retreat,

building up the nation afresh. But my words were laughed at.

"What, Untuswa? Shall I show my back to an enemy because he is strong?"

had said Umzilikazi. "Have the horns of the Bull been cut off that he

can no longer gore? _Whau_! thou art brave, son of Ntelani--braver

there is none--but young. The generalship that rolled back the _impi_

of Tshaka shall roll back that of Dingane, or--_Whau_! I would rather

die with a great nation than live to reign over a small one."

Thus spake Umzilikazi, and I think, _Nkose_, he knew that the life of

our nation was an uncertain thing that day, for he took in all the lay

of the ground, every stone, every rock, every place or point that could

offer us the smallest advantage, with the eye of the great leader he

was. Yet with my generalship he interfered not one jot, thoroughly

approving it.

Beneath us lay the entrance to the pass, where I had beheld the huge

ghost-animal squatted howling, and this widened out into a broad hollow,

opening on the outer side, as it were, through great gates between

slanting ridges or spurs, rocky and steep; and on the nearer side of

these ridges ran up the two great rifts: one on the right hand, the

other on the left.

Our force was divided into three. Under cover of the darkness, as the

moon sank low, we disposed companies of warriors in each of these side

rifts, while, some little way back, within the pass, and where the rocks

narrowed, so that but a few men could hold it against an army, were

posted picked fighters, including a section of my regiment, The

Scorpions. These were to hold the passage against the invaders, while

we, swooping down upon them from either side, would have them in a trap.

The party within the pass was under one Gasibona, a brother of that

Gungana who had held the command which was now mine, and a brave and

skilful fighter. The bulk of The Scorpions were under the second chief,

Xulawayo, for the King had ordered me to remain with him during the

earlier part of the battle.

"The white shield will be needed later, son of Ntelani," he said. And I

understood.

The sun rose in a ball of flame, and the world grew light. Faraway over

the plain beneath us we could see the dewdrops sparkling on the grass

and in the bush sprays; but there was no game in sight, not even a small

buck. It had fled from the disturbing presence of the Zulu host. Fair

and bright now seemed this place, which seen by night was awesome and

ghostly. Time went by. Our warriors, rank upon rank, squatted behind

their shields eager for the moment, for here, indeed, was an enemy

worthy of our strength. No miserable Bapedi or skulking Barutsi these,

but men of our own blood, the disciplined troops of mighty Zulu-land.

Now the word was given to show the signal. Three times it waved--the

white blanket--and, immediately after, we beheld a white spot showing

far away on the plain beneath; then another beyond this. The word was

being passed along the line of sentinels that the _impi_ might now

advance in safety.

The King, with Mcumbete and two or three more of the _izinduna_, lay

hidden among the crags at the highest point overlooking the pass, hence

he might direct our operations by signal, which we then and there

arranged. My plan was simple--namely, to draw the host of Mhlangana

into the hollow formed by the Place of the Three Rifts, and, at the

moment they were about to enter the pass, to fall upon them flank and

rear. By this means I hoped to strike terror and confusion among them,

so completely would they be taken by surprise. I reckoned that we

should slay a great number in the first moments of panic, and, by

reducing the odds against us, could, without difficulty, defeat them

with enormous slaughter. _Au_ but I reckoned without the generalship of

Silwane.

"They come, Great Great One," I whispered.

Now we could see the sheen of spears, as the _impi_, looking like an

immense mass of black ants, appeared in the far distance. We watched it

draw near, and it seemed that our victory was assured. It was advancing

in loose order, having no fear or thought of surprise, as indeed why

should it have, seeing that its own outpost had signalled the road

clear? Ah, they little knew, those warriors of Dingane, that ours was

the outpost--ours the signal--luring them to destruction and defeat.

"By the head-ring of my father, but yonder are splendid soldiers!" said

the King as we watched the _impi_ draw near. "Yet had we but Kalipe's

force not one of them should be left alive to return and tell Dingane of

the strength or weakness of the Amandebeli. Say now, Untuswa. Which is

Mhlangana?"

"I see him not, Black Elephant. Perhaps he lingers in rear of the

march, fearing no attack."

"Ha! It may be so. Go now, son of Ntelani, for the hunting dogs of

Dingane draw very near. They shall soon feel the horns of the Bull."

As I started off to join my division, which was halted in the great rift

beneath, which ran up from the hollow on the left of the King as he

faced it, I could see that the _impi_ was still quite unsuspicious. I

saw, too, that in numbers it was slightly inferior to ourselves; but

then, against that, our force comprised about two regiments of enrolled

slaves, who could not altogether be depended upon, even to save

themselves from the assegai. Excepting the few warriors left to guard

the pass, our entire force was massed in these two rifts, half in each,

and we lay facing each other, awaiting the signal of the King.

But the strategy of Silwane baffled us. Instead of approaching in the

same loose and open order to thread the defile, he sent forward an

advance guard of about four hundred men.

They passed our hiding-place, for we lay securely concealed. But when

they came opposite the mouth of the other rift, they somehow discovered

the presence of warriors--armed and lurking. Then Xulawayo, who was in

command on that side, ordered a charge, hoping to fall on these men and

slay them before they could convey the alarm to the rest. It was a vain

thought, however, for these soldiers of Dingane, so far from giving way,

raised their war-cry, and stood awaiting the attack.

Further concealment was useless. The whole _impi_ came pouring into the

hollow, fearless, but widely alert.

Kept well in hand by their sub-chiefs, they fought splendidly at first.

Directly they came in touch with our lines they charged, and charged

straight. _Whau_! We had not reckoned upon this, and soon our

regiments of slaves gave way and began to flee, throwing us back in

confusion.

Ha! Then followed a wild din. The hollow was a mass of broad shields

and fighting forms, surging wildly hither and thither, and the rocks

rang with the clash of wood and hard hide; the thunder of the war-shout,

the wild death-yell, and the choking groans of the wounded, smitten unto

death. Ha! we "saw red"; our one thought was--blood--blood--ah! and it

flowed--yes, it flowed! _Hau_! that fight was short and sharp. Nearly

half our strength lay slain or sorely wounded, and the men of Dingane

had lost nearly as many. Yet we had been stamped flat that day but for

a rumour that spread among our enemies that a large force was advancing

to cut them off on their rear. That saved us. They began to retreat,

yet not hurriedly and in rout, but facing us and fighting their way.

We, for our part, made no pursuit--_au_! we were glad to let them go--

and after making a show of pursuit we retreated, battered, wearied, and

utterly disheartened, to the heights above the rift, where we had lain

concealed at first. Some there were among us who declared we ought to

rejoice, for that, great as had been our losses, still we had beaten

back the might of Dingane, who in future would leave us in peace. But I

knew better than that, wherefore I would not withdraw the remnant of our

forces from that position, but watched and waited.

Now when the retreat began, Ngubazana the Gaza, deeming it a rout, had

called a number of young warriors of The Scorpions to follow him, and

this band of hotheads had plunged into the thickest of the Zulu ranks.

But these turned. _Whau_! That was no rout, and in a moment there was

not one of those young fools left standing. But Ngubazana, who was much

older and should have known better, was the last to fall, and he fell

fighting, for quite a ring of Silwane's people went down before his

spear. At last they threw a heavy knobstick at him, which felled him,

so that he dropped upon the slain which he had heaped up there, and they

made an end of him.

Thus he died the death of a warrior, fighting bravely to the last; and

it was a strange death for one who had left his country to become the

follower and servant of a teacher of peace.