As soon as they understood the tenor of Captain Broderick’s address they began shouting and clashing their shields to drown his voice.
“Their blood be upon their own heads,” he cried out to his own men. “Remember to pick off the fellows with tall plumes. If we kill the chiefs, their followers will quickly take to flight.”
“We will see to that,” answered Vermack with a grin, as he tapped the lock of his rifle.
The other men, in various tones, responded to the same effect.
Although the Zulus shouted and shrieked, and rushed on as if resolved that nothing should stop their progress until they were inside the stockade, the resolute front exhibited by Captain Broderick and his men evidently damped their ardour as they approached. Had the guns been fired while they were at a distance, when the shot would have produced comparatively little effect, they would have come on more boldly, but the perfect silence maintained by the defenders puzzled them. They observed also that there were fewer men on the walls than they had before seen, and they began to fancy that an ambuscade had been formed, by which they might suddenly be attacked on the flank. So Captain Broderick suspected. He remarked that the rear ranks were not coming on at the same speed as those in front, while many of the men were looking uneasily over their left shoulders. He still waited, however, until the front rank, led by the most daring of their chiefs, had got within half-musket range.
The discharge of one of the swivels was the signal for opening fire. Captain Broderick pulled the trigger, and the next instant his men were blazing away as fast as they could fire and reload.
When the smoke had cleared off, the whole Zulu force was seen hastily retreating, dragging off several of their number killed or wounded. Biddy, as she saw them scampering off, gave vent to a truly Irish shout of triumph, which was taken up by Percy, and echoed by most of the defenders of the fort.
“All very well,” observed Vermack, in his usual dry way; “but, friends, don’t be trusting those fellows. They have found us better prepared than they expected, but they’re not beaten yet. They’ll bide their time, and wait till they can see a chance of getting in with less risk to themselves.”
“Vermack gives you good advice, my lads,” said Captain Broderick. “I agree with him entirely: we must not relax our vigilance, but keep on the watch day and night.”
“For my part, I wish that they had come on again and let us finish the business off hand,” exclaimed Percy. “What do you say, father, to our sallying out and pursuing them? I should like to do it, for the chances are they would take to flight, and not stop until we had driven them across the river.”