“I have always heard there were deserters from the English soldiers who aided the Kaffirs in this outbreak,” said Hans, “and it seems your man was one of them.”
“Yes, there were several deserters among the Kaffirs, but, as is usually the case, they received very rough treatment at the hands of their new friends, who, knowing that they dared not leave them or rejoin the English, made them work like slaves.”
“Do you think,” inquired Hans, “that the Amakosa Kaffirs fought as bravely when they attacked Graham’s Town as the Zulus have done lately against us?”
“Yes, I think they did. All savages fight well; there is no want of courage amongst them; and when they are assured by their prophets that bullets won’t touch them, and assagies will be blunted against them, they will fight like demons, and will rush up to the very muzzles of the guns without fear or hesitation. The Amakosa, however, fear the Zulus, and have an idea that the Zulu is brave and very strong. This is because the Zulus drove the Fetcani down the country from the East, and the Fetcani, taking a lesson from the Zulus, drove the Amakosa Kaffirs before them, so that the latter sought the aid of the English against these invaders, whom they then defeated.”
“Most of those who now claim portions of the country seem to have won it from some one weaker than themselves,” said Hans. “We lost the country we had won, and the Kaffirs seem to have lost their country, or a great part of it. I hope we shall never lose Natal.”
“Natal is too far away to make people anxious for it,” replied Hofman; “though if people knew how fine a place it was, they would come to it from many parts of the world. I wonder the Portuguese never took possession of it, as they have Delagoa Bay close to it.”
“They have enough land there, and don’t want more, so I have heard,” replied Hofman. “They send parties to hunt elephants near this. Did you see any spoor to-day, or do you think your elephants had been hunted lately?”
“No, my elephants knew what a gun was, but they did not seem disposed to trouble themselves much about it; for though they ran at first, they soon stopped again, and I thus shot my first elephant on foot.”
“To-morrow we will collect our ivory, and we must search for fresh game, for the elephants will trek from here. We shall have much work, so we will do well to sleep now.”
With this parting advice Hofman made his brief arrangements for sleeping, a proceeding that was followed by all the other hunters, and the camp was soon in a state of repose. The horses were fastened to the waggon wheels, the oxen tied to stakes driven into the ground, and thus prevented from straying or wandering where they might tempt a hungry lion or hyena, and with but few exceptions every human being slept, for hunters sleep lightly even when tired, and the oxen or horses soon give an alarm, should any danger threaten.