It was to this personal popularity he owed the fact that he was not turned out of his house, and forced to choose between serving against his countrymen or being imprisoned and otherwise maltreated at the very commencement of the rebellion.
For a fortnight or more after this flag episode nothing of any importance happened, and then came the tidings of the crushing defeat at Laing's Nek.

At first, Silas Croft would not believe it.

"No general could have been so mad," he said; but soon the report was amply confirmed from native sources.
Another week passed, and with it came the news of the British defeat at Ingogo.

The first they heard of it was on the morning of February 8, when Jantje brought a Kafir up to the verandah at breakfast-time.

This Kafir said that he had been watching the fight from a mountain; that the English were completely hemmed in and fighting well, but that "their arms were tired," and they would all be killed at night-time.