already selected my man on whom I meant to open fire -- a great
fellow sprawling on the ground within three feet of little Flossie

-- Alphonse's teeth began to chatter again like the hoofs of
a galloping giraffe, making a great noise in the silence. The

rag had dropped out in the agitation of his mind. Instantly
a Masai within three paces of us woke, and, sitting up, gazed

about him, looking for the cause of the sound. Moved beyond
myself, I brought the butt-end of my rifle down on to the pit

of the Frenchman's stomach. This stopped his chattering; but,
as he doubled up, he managed to let off his gun in such a manner

that the bullet passed within an inch of my head.
There was no need for a signal now. From both sides of the kraal

broke out a waving line of fire, in which I myself joined, managing
with a snap shot to knock over my Masai by Flossie, just as he

was jumping up. Then from the top end of the kraal there rang
an awful yell, in which I rejoiced to recognize Good's piercing

notes rising clear and shrill above the din, and in another second
followed such a scene as I have never seen before nor shall again.

With an universal howl of terror and fury the brawny crowd of
savages within the kraal sprang to their feet, many of them to

fall again beneath our well-directed hail of lead before they
had moved a yard. For a moment they stood undecided, and then

hearing the cries and curses that rose unceasingly from the top
end of the kraal, and bewildered by the storm of bullets, they

as by one impulse rushed down towards the thorn-stopped entrance.
As they went we kept pouring our fire with terrible effect into

the thickening mob as fast as we could load. I had emptied my
repeater of the ten shots it contained and was just beginning

to slip in some more when I bethought me of little Flossie.
Looking up, I saw that the white donkey was lying kicking, having

been knocked over either by one of our bullets or a Masai spear-thrust.
There were no living Masai near, but the black nurse was on

her feet and with a spear cutting the rope that bound Flossie's
feet. Next second she ran to the wall of the kraal and began

to climb over it, an example which the little girl followed.
But Flossie was evidently very stiff and cramped, and could

only go slowly, and as she went two Masai flying down the kraal
caught sight of her and rushed towards her to kill her. The

first fellow came up just as the poor little girl, after a desperate
effort to climb the wall, fell back into the kraal. Up flashed

the great spear, and as it did so a bullet from my rifle found
its home in the holder's ribs, and over he went like a shot rabbit.

But behind him was the other man, and, alas, I had only that
one cartridge in the magazine! Flossie had scrambled to her

feet and was facing the second man, who was advancing with raised
spear. I turned my head aside and felt sick as death. I could

not bear to see him stab her. Glancing up again, to my surprise
I saw the Masai's spear lying on the ground, while the man himself

was staggering about with both hands to his head. Suddenly I
saw a puff of smoke proceedingapparently from Flossie, and the

man fell down headlong. Then I remembered the Derringer pistol
she carried, and saw that she had fired both barrels of it at

him, thereby saving her life. In another instant she had made
an effort, and assisted by the nurse, who was lying on the top,

had scrambled over the wall, and I knew that she was, comparatively
speaking, safe.

All this takes time to tell, but I do not suppose that it took
more than fifteen seconds to enact. I soon got the magazine

of the repeater filled again with cartridges, and once more opened
fire, not on the seething black mass which was gathering at the

end of the kraal, but on fugitives who bethought them to climb
the wall. I picked off several of these men, moving down towards

the end of the kraal as I did so, and arriving at the corner,
or rather the bend of the oval, in time to see, and by means

of my rifle to assist in, the mighty struggle that took place
there.

By this time some two hundred Masai -- allowing that we had up
to the present accounted for fifty -- had gathered together in

front of the thorn-stopped entrance, drive thither by the spears
of Good's men, whom they doubtlesssupposed were a large force

instead of being but ten strong. For some reason it never occurred
to them to try and rush the wall, which they could have scrambled

over with comparative ease; they all made for the fence, which
was really a strongly interwoven fortification. With a bound

the first warrior went at it, and even before he touched the
ground on the other side I saw Sir Henry's great axe swing up

and fall with awful force upon his feather head-piece, and he
sank into the middle of the thorns. Then with a yell and a crash

they began to break through as they might, and ever as they came
the great axe swung and Inkosi-kaas flashed and they fell dead

one by one, each man thus helping to build up a barrier against
his fellows. Those who escaped the axes of the pair fell at

the hands of the Askari and the two Mission Kaffirs, and those
who passed scatheless from them were brought low by my own and

Mackenzie's fire.
Faster and more furious grew the fighting. Single Masai would

spring upon the dead bodies of their comrades, and engage one
or other of the axemen with their long spears; but, thanks chiefly

to the mail shirts, the result was always the same. Presently
there was a great swing of the axe, a crashing sound, and another

dead Masai. That is, if the man was engaged with Sir Henry.
If it was Umslopogaas that he fought with the result indeed

would be the same, but it would be differently attained. It
was but rarely that the Zulu used the crashing double-handed

stroke; on the contrary, he did little more than tap continually
at his adversary's head, pecking at it with the pole-axe end

of the axe as a woodpecker {Endnote 7} pecks at rotten wood.
Presently a peck would go home, and his enemy would drop down

with a neat little circular hole in his forehead or skull, exactly
similar to that which a cheese-scoop makes in a cheese. He never

used the broad blade of the axe except when hard pressed, or
when striking at a shield. He told me afterwards that he did

not consider it sportsmanlike.
Good and his men were quite close by now, and our people had

to cease firing into the mass for fear of killing some of them
(as it was, one of them was slain in this way). Mad and desperate

with fear, the Masai by a frantic effort burst through the thorn
fence and piled-up dead, and, sweeping Curtis, Umslopogaas, and

the other three before them, into the open. And now it was that
we began to lose men fast. Down went our poor Askari who was

armed with the axe, a great spear standing out a foot behind
his back; and before long the two spearsmen who had stood with

him went down too, dying fighting like tigers; and others of
our party shared their fate. For a moment I feared the fight

was lost -- certainly it trembled in the balance. I shouted
to my men to cast down their rifles, and to take spears and throw

themselves into the melee. They obeyed, their blood being now
thoroughly up, and Mr Mackenzie's people followed their example.

This move had a momentary good result, but still the fight hung
in the balance.

Our people fought magnificently, hurling themselves upon the
dark mass of Elmoran, hewing, thrusting, slaying, and being slain.

And ever above the din rose Good's awful yell of encouragement
as he plunged to wherever the fight was thickest; and ever, with

an almost machine-like regularity, the two axes rose and fell,
carrying death and disablement at every stroke. But I could

see that the strain was beginning to tell upon Sir Henry, who
was bleeding from several flesh wounds: his breath was coming

in gasps, and the veins stood out on his forehead like blue and