Just as the soldiers who surrounded us were completing their circle they bolted between the two ends of it and vanished into the bush out of which we had marched on the previous evening.

Often since then I have wondered what became of them.

Doubtless some perished, and the rest worked their way back to their homes or found new ones among other tribes.

The experiences of those who escaped must be interesting to them if they still live.

I can well imagine the legends in which these will be embodied two or three generations hence.
Deducting the slave people and the bearers whom we had wrung out of Hassan, we were now a party of seventeen, namely eleven Zulu hunters including Mavovo, two white men, Hans and Sammy, and the two Mazitus who had elected to remain with us, while round us was a great circle of savages which closed in slowly.
As the light grew--it was long in coming on that dull morning--and the mist lifted, I examined these people, without seeming to take any particular notice of them.