Having learned this I returned at once to make report to you, nor did I come too quickly, for the Zulus nearly caught me as I passed their ranks.
I saw Bull-Head as I ran; he is riding a brown horse, and seems quite recovered from his wound." "How far is the Boer laager from this place ?" asked Sihamba before Suzanne could speak.
"Lady, a man on a good horse could reach it in seven hours, nor is it possible to mistake the way.

After crossing the plain you enter the gorge by the saw-edged rock yonder, and follow its windings across the mountains till you come out the other side, where the river runs down to the flat country.

Then you can keep along the bank of the river as I did when I went, or if you wish to go more quickly you must head for a large white-topped hill, or koppie, which can be seen from the mountains, and when you come to it you will find the Boer laager upon the knoll at its foot, but near to the banks of the river, which winds round it." "Oh! let us go; let us go quickly," said Suzanne springing to her feet, for the thought even of seeing a white man again made her drunk with hope.
"Alas! sister," answered Sihamba sadly, "an hour ago we might have gone, or rather you might have gone, mounted on the great _schimmel_, but now--look," and she pointed to where the Zulus clustered like bees along the banks of the river by which the path ran.

"See," she added, "there is but one road out of this stronghold, for nowhere else can the surest-footed climber in the world descend its cliffs, no, not with a rope to help him, and that road is thick with Zulu spears; moreover, a certain man whom you do not wish to see waits for you upon it." Suzanne looked.

"Too late," she moaned.