It was impossible to say what horror might not have happened.

The Matabele might even now be lurking about the kraal--for the bodies were hardly cold.

But Hilda?
Hilda?
Whatever came, I must find Hilda.
Fortunately, I had my loaded revolver in my belt.

Though we had not in the least anticipated this sudden revolt--it broke like a thunder-clap from a clear sky--the unsettled state of the country made even women go armed about their daily avocations.
I strode on, half maddened.

Beside the great block of granite which sheltered the farm there rose one of those rocky little hillocks of loose boulders which are locally known in South Africa by the Dutch name of kopjes.