Chapter Fourteen.
Three days only had elapsed since my escape from the Zulus, and the fight between them and the men of Eondema, and I had been living with the young chief, and considering what I should do in order to rejoin my own people, when, at daybreak on the fourth day, a great noise was heard, and before we had time to do more than wonder what this was, a war-party of the Zulus was upon us. From facts which we afterwards learnt, we knew that the few Zulus who escaped from the men of Eondema had met a war-party of the Zulus not many miles east of the Umganie river, and had told the chief of this party that I was among the Umlass Caffres. This chief concluded that if he could capture me, and take me back to the Zulu king, he would be well rewarded. He also knew that there were cattle in plenty belonging to these people, and so, by a surprise, he hoped to capture me, and also carry off some cattle.
Their plans had been well arranged, for they had kept to the bush until within a short distance of our kraal. They had then rushed on it, and were upon us before we could prepare for them. Eondema and I were in the same hut, and we both made for the doorway, to get out and see what the noise was caused by. Eondema had scarcely moved a foot out of his hut before he was knocked on the head with a knob-kerrie, and instantly killed. Fearing the same fate, I did not follow him; but, seizing my gun, fired a shot among the Zulus who were round the doorway. In an instant they retreated, but I heard the call for “umlilo” (“fire”), and I knew they were going to burn the hut down. Now a hut set on fire from the outside would burn inwards, and roast any one who remained in the hut; but if the fire were applied to one part of the inside, it would, if properly kept down, burn outwards and make a hole through which a man might escape. There was no time to lose. So I blew up the embers of the fire, and lighted the grass on the inside of the hut opposite the doorway, and by help of some milk which was in the calabashes in the hut I prevented the fire from rushing all over the hut. In the meantime, the Zulus had set fire to the hut near the doorway, and I could hear the crackling of the flames above me. As soon as the smoke was very thick I threw the milk on the fire I had lighted, and pushing against this part, found I had made an opening large enough to creep through. I wished much to take my gun with me, but this I knew was impossible; and, besides, it would have been useless as a means of preservation, for although I might have shot one or two Zulus, yet I should have been assagied immediately after. My only chance of escape was that of getting out of the hut without being seen, and being able to move in the smoke without being recognised.
Having forced my way through the opening in the hut, I lay down outside for an instant to look round; and, hearing all the Zulus near the door on the opposite side of the hut to that from which I had made my escape, I rose and walked slowly away, still keeping in the thick smoke caused by the fire of the hut.
Now people not accustomed to hunting game such as antelope, leopards, and other like creatures, would probably have started off and run, as soon as they got clear of the hut. I knew better than to do so stupid a thing. If I had run, I should at once have attracted attention, and been followed, and my race for life would have commenced immediately. By moving slowly I was not noticed, and thus had gone more than a hundred yards from the hut before a Zulu, who was running towards the kraal which was burning, passed close to me, and seeing me, stopped; and, recognising me, hurled an assagy at me. The practice I had gained with Inyoni and Tembile stood me in good stead on this occasion, or I should have been speared. I dodged the assagy, which stuck in the ground near me, within reach of my arm, and seizing it threw it at my enemy. He was not as quick in escaping as I had been, and my assagy struck him in the chest and the blade passed through his body. I closed with him at once, and with one of his own knob-kerries struck him on the head, and I believe killed him. I did this so that he might not tell any other Zulus that he had seen me. Possessing myself of his shield, assagies, and knob-kerrie, I started off at a run towards the bush; for it was there I hoped to conceal myself, and possibly escape the keen eyes of the Zulus; for although they might follow my spoor as correctly as a dog will follow a buck, I still hoped I might defeat all their cunning.
The attention of all the Zulus was taken up with the kraal from which I had escaped; for they expected me to rush out as soon as I found that the smoke and fire would destroy me. That I should escape from the back part of the hut had not been thought of.
The distance from the kraal to the Berea bush was about a mile, and this distance I passed over at a rapid walk, and succeeded in entering the bush without being recognised by any of the enemy. The Berea bush was at this time visited annually by one or two herds of elephants which came down from near the Zulu country. They stayed in the bush during several months, and made paths through the thick jungle, along which a man could walk easily. The bush was nearly impenetrable except along these elephant tracks; so I thought I might easily conceal myself in this bush for two or three days, unless my footprints were seen, when I should certainly be tracked and probably caught or assagied. Having entered the bush without having been recognised, I made my way along an elephant-path, where the tracks of the elephants were quite fresh. I knew that in this bush there must be a herd of these animals, and if they would only walk along the same path that I had travelled they would rub out the print of my footprints, and I should be safe. I walked on into the densest part of the bush; and then, finding a large tree, I climbed into it; so that, if the elephants scented me and became savage and hunted me, I should be safe in this tree.