The right-hand column continued to attack, but changed its tactics.

The left-hand party made a circuit at top speed, outflanked us, and pursued the cattle.
Supposing my count was right, we had laid out, either wounded or dead, seven of the crowd attacking us.

This left perhaps fourteen against us, to be dealt with before the others could come back with the cattle and take us in the rear.
Will brought another man down; I saw the blood splash on his forehead as the bullet drilled the skull cleanly.

Then one man shouted and they all lay prone, beginning to crawl toward us with their shields held before, not as protection against bullets (for as that they were utterly worthless) but as cover that made their exact position merest guesswork.
I fell back and took position on the ant-hill from which I had first seen them, thus making our position triangular and giving myself a chance to protect the other two should they feel forced to retire.

The extra height also gave me a distinct advantage, for I could see the legs of the Masai over the tops of their shields, and was able to wound more than one of them so severely that they crawled to the rear.
But the rest came on.