"So I sent out my spies, and that night went by, and the next day and
night went by, and we sat still and did nothing, though the Black One
wished to wander out alone after you. But on the following morning, at
the dawn, a messenger came in who reported that it had been called to
him by his brethren who were hidden upon hilltops and in other places
for miles and miles, that the Matabele impi, having destroyed another
family of the Makalanga far down the Zambesi, was advancing to destroy
us also. And in the afternoon came a second spy, who reported that you
two had been surrounded by the impi, but had broken through them, and
were riding hitherward for your lives. Then I took fifty of the best
of our people and put them under the command of Tamas, my son, and sent
them to ambush the pass, for against the Matabele warriors on the plain
we, who are not warlike, do not dare to fight.
"The Black One went with them, and when he saw how sore was your strait,
wished to run down to meet the Matabele, for he is a brave man. But I
had said to Tamas--'No, do not try to fight them in the open, for there
they will certainly kill you.' Moreover, Lady, I was sure that you would
reach the top of the poort. Well, you reached it, though but by the
breadth of a blade of grass, and my children shot with the new rifles,
and the place being narrow so that they could not miss, killed many of
those hyenas of Amandabele.
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