We all stood and stared at each other aghast. What was to be done?
Just then there was a knocking at the door that I had bolted, and a voice cried, “Open, my father, open!”
The door was unlocked, and in sped a terrified man. He was one of the spies who had been sent out.
“My father,” he cried, “the Masai are on us! A great body of them have passed round the hill and are moving towards the old stone kraal down by the little stream. My father, make strong thy heart! In the midst of them I saw the white ass, and on it sat the Water-lily [Flossie]. An Elmoran [young warrior] led the ass, and by its side walked the nurse weeping. The men who went with her in the morning I saw not.”
“Was the child alive?” asked Mr Mackenzie, hoarsely.
“She was white as the snow, but well, my father. They passed quite close to me, and looking up from where I lay hid I saw her face against the sky.”
“God help her and us!” groaned the clergyman.
“How many are there of them?” I asked.
“More than two hundred—two hundred and half a hundred.”
Once more we looked one on the other. What was to be done? Just then there rose a loud insistent cry outside the wall.