I who had known so many battles, was the reverse of happy, for inconveniently enough there flashed into my mind at this juncture the dying words of the Zulu captain and seer, Mavovo, which foretold that I too should fall far away in war; and I wondered whether this were the occasion that had been present to his foreseeing mind.
Only Hans seemed quite unconcerned.

Indeed I noted that he took the opportunity of the halt to fill and light his large corn-cob pipe, a bit of bravado in the face of Providence for which I could have kicked him had he not been perched in his usual monkey fashion on the top of a very tall camel.

The act, however, excited the admiration of the Kendah, for I heard one of them call to the others: "Look! He is not a monkey after all, but a man--more of a man than his master." The arrangements were soon made.

Within a quarter of an hour of the departure of the messengers Harut, after bowing thrice towards the Holy Mountain, rose in his stirrups and shaking a long spear above his head, shouted a single word: "Charge!".