Sususa came up to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him soundly for failing in the first onslaught.
The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the Boers had hit him in the first rush.

His brother admitted the truth of this, and talked to him amicably.
"Well," he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, "you cannot walk again." "No, chief," said the wounded man, looking at his ankle.
"And to-morrow we must walk far," went on Sususa.
"Yes, chief." "Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or----" and he nodded towards the river.
The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though in thought.

Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the face.
"My ankle pains me, my brother," he said; "I think I will go back to Zululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if I creep about it like a snake."[*] [*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter into the bodies of large green snakes, which glide about the kraals.

To kill these snakes is sacrilege.
"It is well, my brother," said the chief.

"Rest softly," and having shaken hands with him, he gave an order to one of the indunas, and turned away.
Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to the banks of the stream.