CHAPTER XXIX
THIRST
When Sihamba finished her talk with the captains of Dingaan the sunwas already sinking. Still the Umpondwana thought that the Zulus wouldattack at once, but these shouted to the defenders that they might resteasily till the dawn, since they wished to have daylight by which todivide the spoil. And at daylight the attack came. Driving the men ofBull-Head in front of them much against their will, for they knew theseto be cowards, and wished to make mock of them, company by company theZulus rushed at the stone wall, though many of them were killed andoften they were driven back. But always they came on laughing andshouting their war-cry till the arms of the Umpondwana grew weary withstabbing at them as their plumed heads appeared above the level of thewall. Still, fighting under the eye of Sihamba, whose bitter tonguethey feared, her people held their own, for indeed the place was almostimpregnable to the attacks of men armed only with spears however bravethey might be, and had it been defended by warriors of true Zulu bloodit could never have been taken.
When the fight had raged for an hour or more the Zulu captains withdrewtheir men, and went apart to consult with Van Vooren, for their loss washeavy, and they saw that if they were to capture the head waters of theriver they must seek some other plan. Very soon they found it. The riverissued from the side of the mountain not as a little stream but as abroad fierce water. So deep and rapid was it that the triple line ofdefence works of the Umpondwana were built only to its edge, for thewater ran through a rocky gorge, although thorn trees fastened by theirtrunks were thrust out for ten or twelve feet over the banks of thegorge from either side of the stream. Now, in the centre of this river,which may have been thirty paces wide, was a long ridge or saddle ofrock over which the water boiled furiously, although here it was notmore than three feet deep. This ridge began at a point within the lastline of walls and ran down to some five-and-twenty paces below the firstwall. Swart Piet had noted the ridge.
"There is a saddle on which you may ride to victory," he said.
"How so, Bull-Head?" asked the captain.
"Thus. Yonder stand trees with tall stems and green tops; cut them downand make a bridge from the bank to the saddle; then wade up the saddlewhere the water is not more than waist deep, till you are past the thirdwall and reach the bank inside it as best you can."
Now although he was a brave man, as were all the Zulus in those days,the captain looked long and doubtfully at the white water which foamedupon the ridge.
"There is death in that water," he said.
"Death for some and victory for others," answered Van Vooren, "but ifyou fear it, go back to Dingaan and tell him so, for in no other way canthis mountain be taken, seeing that it is impregnable, and that thirstalone can conquer it."
"I fear nothing, white man," answered the Zulu, "but if you are sobrave, why, show us black people the way along yonder ridge!"
Piet shrugged his shoulders. "I wish to keep alive for reasons of myown; besides, I am not a soldier of Dingaan," he answered.
Then the captain turned and commanded such men as had battle axes to cutdown three of the longest trees, which they did, although the task wasdifficult, for the wood was hard and their axes were light. When atlength the trees were down they rolled them uphill to a spot where theridge of rock ended, which was not more than thirty paces from the faceof the outer wall. Now it was that Sihamba guessed their purpose for thefirst time, for until then she had believed that they were cutting thetrees to use them as battering rams against the walls.
"They are coming on us by the path of the river," she said, and calledfor men to sally out and prevent them making the bridge from the bank tothe saddle. But none answered her, for they dared not face the Zulus inthe open.
"The water will sweep them away," they said; "moreover, when they try toland we can spear them."
"Cowards," she moaned, "on your own heads be your doom."
So the Umpondwana contented themselves with standing behind the firstwall and casting volleys of spears at those who thrust out the treeswithin thirty paces of them, while Zinti shot at them with his gun,killing several. But coming between, the Zulus made a shield hedge toprotect their comrades, so that the light throwing assegais did littlehurt, and of the few that the gun killed they thought nothing.
Presently the ends of the trees lay beneath the water on the ridgeof rock, and the captain commanded a certain _induna_ to lead his menacross. Now all natives fear a wet death, and though he was a brave manwho would gladly have rushed the fortifications alone had he been socommanded, this soldier to whom the captain spoke looked askance at thefurious torrent and hesitated. But that captain had served under Chaka,and knew how to deal with those who showed doubt or fear. Lifting hisheavy assegai, he drove it through the man, so that he fell dead, and ashe smote cried, "Coward, take this gift from the king!"
Then, calling to the soldiers, he himself ran out upon the bridge oftree-trunks and leaped into the water that rose to his middle. In aninstant he would have been swept away, for the current was very fierce,had not those who followed sprang down at his side and behind him. Fora moment they managed to keep their feet till others came, giving themsupport and being themselves protected by a breakwater built of the menwho had gone first. Then, forming in a double line, each man linkedhis arms round the middle of his comrade in front, as Kaffir girlslink themselves in a dance, and very slowly this human chain began tostruggle forward along the back of the ridge. At times, indeed, theweight of the stream was almost too much for them, and swept some ofthem off into the deep water which ran on either side, but the strongrope of human muscles held, and they were dragged back again. Now theywere between the lip of the first walls, and the Umpondwana soldiershurled spears at them from the banks, killing many. But if a man wasslain, or even badly wounded, his companions who held him let go, and,if needful, thrust him into the water, who could no longer serve theking. Then he gripped the soldier who stood in front of the lost one,and the chain dragged on.
"Oh! men of the Umpondwana," cried Sihamba, "had you but half the heartof these, who are brave, we need fear nothing from Dingaan," and theZulus in the stream who heard her called in answer:--
"You are right, little chieftainess, we are brave."
Slowly the black snake-like line pressed forward through the white foam,never heeding the storm of spears that slew continually, till the pointof it was well within the third line of walls. Then the captain, who bysome chance had escaped, called an order to those behind him, and thehead of the double line leapt off the ridge of rock into deep water, andswimming with their feet, but still gripping with their hands, sufferedthemselves to be swung round by the current towards the bank, twentyyards away. Here some rocks jutted out, and these, after a greatstruggle, they were able to grasp and hold.
Then followed what Suzanne, who was watching from above, afterwardsdeclared to be the strangest sight she had ever seen, for these men, whoswung to and fro in the current, anchored, as it were, to the ridge andthe bank, made of their living bodies a bridge for their fellows. Yes,their companions ran and crawled over them, springing from shoulder toshoulder, and driving their heads beneath the water with the push oftheir clinging feet. Half-drowned and almost torn in two as they were,still they held on till enough men were safe on shore to finish thefray. For when the Umpondwana saw that the Zulus had won the bank theydid not stay to kill them while they landed, as might easily have beendone; no, dragging Sihamba with them, they ran into the gorge leading tothe flat top of the mountain, and blocked it with great stones that wereready. And so it came about that the Zulus won this fight, though withgreat loss to themselves, and cut off the Umpondwana from their mainsupply of water.
But though they had won the fight they had not won the mountain. Afterresting a while they began the work of storming the narrow gorge thatled upwards to the tableland, for this gorge was its only gate, andat first were suffered to pull down or climb over the walls which werebuilt across it with but little resistance. Soon, however, they
foundout the reason of this, for when a number of them were in the gorgestones began to roll upon them from the edges of the cliffs above,crushing the life out of many, so that presently they were driven backto the head of the river. Afterwards they searched long and earnestlybut could find no other path by which to attack, for there was none.
"Well," said the Zulu captain, "it seems that we must fight the fight of'sit-down,' and since these rock-rabbits will not let us come to them wemust wait till they come to us to ask for water."
So they waited for seven whole days, setting guards about the mountainin case there should be secret ways of egress of which they knewnothing.