were walking up and down, engaged in earnestconversation.
"I wish you would think better of this, Annchen," he said. "MrBilderjik returns this morning to Colenso. He finds there is nothing tobe done here, which the pastor himself cannot do, nor is there likely tobe anything. He will take you with him to his house, and thence youwill find easily enough the means of conveyance to Newcastle, where atemporary residence has been engaged. There all the waggons and thegoods which were saved from the wreck at Bushman's Drift have beenconveyed. There, too, you can make the necessary preparations for thejourney across the Transvaal, which cannot be made here."
"You are resolved on settling at Pieter's Dorf, then?"
"Have I not told you so already? Bushman's Drift was completelydestroyed by those fiends of Umbelini's. It would take a great deal oftime and money to restore it; and even were that otherwise, I couldnever endure the sight of the place again."
"I know, I know," murmured Annchen, as she laid her hand pityingly onhis arm.
"And Pieter's Dorf," resumed Vander Heyden, "is the place at which Ihave always wished to live, since it came into my possession. Additionsto the house and farm buildings are needed, and these Hardy, the mostcompetent man in these parts, has promised to undertake. We shallcertainly set out as soon as I am free to travel."
"That is, as soon as Cetewayo has been put down, I suppose. But if youare to have no hand in putting him down, why wait for that?"
"I mean to have a hand in putting him down. As a soldier, I know I mustobey orders, and therefore I have stayed here. But I have been promisedthat I shall take the place of the first officer that is killed ordisabled. Every day I am expecting to hear that a battle has beenfought and I am free to draw my sword. I must stay here."
"But, Henryk, may I not be as anxious to obtain the earliest informationas yourself?"
"Of the safety of Frank Moritz?" suggested her brother, turning ascrutinising look on her; "or perhaps of some one else?"
Annchen coloured. "You have no right--no reason for asking me that,"she said.
"I hope I have no reason," he answered. "As for right, that is adifferent matter. Let us understand one another. It was never supposedthat there was any romantic affection between you and Frank, though youliked one another well enough to marry. But I have fancied once ortwice that you were getting romantic about this young Englishman,Rivers. He is a fine fellow, I allow, and I admire and like him. Butyou shall never marry an Englishman with my consent. And though mycontrol over you will cease after a time, you would no longer be asister of mine if you were to marry one."
"I repeat you have neither right nor reason to speak thus to me," sherejoined. "Neither Mr Rivers nor myself have said or done anythingthat could justify it. And I really think it _would_ be better for meto leave Rorke's Drift. I have no doubt Mr Bilderjik will give mepermission to accompany him, and, as he means to set out very soon, Iwill go and prepare for my journey. Good-bye, Henryk; let us partfriends."
They took leave of one another, and not long afterwards she was seenriding off in the Swedish pastor's company. Vander Heyden lounged up tothe camp and joined some of the officers, who had gathered in a groupnear the storehouse, listening intently to some distant sounds borne bythe wind from the eastern quarter.
"That is firing, I am sure," said Evetts, one of the volunteers; "but itis a long way off."
"Yes, that is firing," said the experienced Vander Heyden; "but it isnot volley firing. It is only some skirmishing, I expect. How long hasit been going on?"
"I should think it began about an hour ago," said Evetts, "but it wasvery faint and irregular then. It has been getting more distinct forthe last twenty minutes. It is just half-past twelve now." He lookedat his watch as he spoke. "But, ha! what is that?" he added a momentafterwards, as a deep, hollow boom came across the river. "That iscannon. There is a battle going on at Isandhlwana."
"A good job too," said Vander Heyden; "it is time there was somefighting. People had begun to think there never was to be any."
They continued to listen for a considerable time to the roar of thecannonade, which presently ceased, and the desultory firing was againheard.
"The action is over," observed Evetts. "The Zulus never can face theguns very long."
"Where is Margetts?" inquired another officer after another hour'sconversation.
"He and Baylen have ridden out to the ford on the Lower Tugela,"answered Evetts, "with some letters which were to be forwarded toPearson's camp. I have been on the lookout for them for some time."
"And here they come," said Lieutenant Bromhead, the officer in commandof the garrison; "I know Margetts' horse even at this distance."
"It is the horse, sure enough," said Vander Heyden, as they drew nearer,"but I don't think it is the man. No," he added a minute afterwards,"it is Rivers, not Margetts."
"Rivers!" repeated Bromhead. "And so it is! He must come fromIsandhlwana. Depend upon it, he brings us the news of a victory. Well,Rivers, what is it?"
"I am sorry to say, Mr Bromhead," said George, saluting the officer incommand, "we have suffered a terrible defeat. The Zulus have brokeninto our camp and massacred nearly the whole of the companies of the24th, the police, and the volunteers. All the guns, ammunition, andwaggons have been taken. I should fear that nearly a thousand men havebeen slaughtered."
"Good Heaven! you cannot mean it!" said Evetts. "Where is LordChelmsford? How can it have happened?"
"It is no use asking either question now," said George. "The Zulus arein immense force--ten or twelve thousand of them at the least. They arealready, I expect, on the march to attack you. You must instantlyretreat, or prepare to defend yourselves."
"We cannot retreat," said Bromhead. "It will be impossible to removethe wounded men, and we cannot let them fall into the hands of theZulus. Besides, it is of the utmost importance to maintain this post,if it be possible. We must throw up what defences we can, and, ratherthan surrender them, die behind them."
He was answered by a general cheer and a cry of determination to defendthe place as long as there was a cartridge left, or a man to fire it.
As has already been intimated, a worse position for defence than Rorke'sDrift can hardly be imagined. The two small frail buildings were morethan a hundred feet apart from one another. The walls were thin, thedoors weak, the roofs thatched, and easily set on fire. On two sidesthere was rising ground, from which they could be completely commanded.On a third they could be approached under cover within a few yards'distance. There was neither wall nor breastwork nor trench--nothing, infact, to keep an enemy back. The attacking party would probably consistof some thousands of desperate and well-armed savages, flushed withvictory. The defenders were one hundred and four in number (for thenative contingent withdrew before the approach of the enemy), and theywere cumbered with the care of thirty-five sick men.
They went to work, however, with a will, and for more than two hoursemployed themselves in loopholing the walls and constructing barricadesbetween the two houses. These consisted of two waggons, which hadfortunately been left at the station, and of piles of sacks filled withmealies and biscuit-boxes, the parapet thus formed being only a few feethigh. It looked more like a mock fortification, put together for aschoolboy's game, than for the purposes of a real battle. The rudedefences were still incomplete, when the dark masses of the enemy wereseen crowding the rising ground to the south, and the foremost linesmade a sudden charge down the hill, intending to carry the place by a_coup de main_. But when they had approached within fifty yards, theywere met by a fire so heavy, as to check even their triumphant advance.Instead of continuing their rush, they withdrew into whatever cover theycould find, and fired from behind hollows in the hillside, trees andshrubs and garden wall, every now and then rushing forward and trying toforce their way in, until driven back by the weapon they dreaded most ofall--the British bayonet.
"These fellows fight desperately," said George to Hardy, who had arrive
dan hour or two previously, as, aided by him and Vander Heyden, he droveback half a dozen Zulus, who had forced themselves half over the wall ofmealie-bags; "yonder big fellow actually clutched the barrel of mymusket as I fired it into him, and, though he was mortally wounded,attempted to tear it from me. If his strength hadn't failed him prettyquickly, he'd have got it, too!"
"Well, the fighting has gone on for four or five hours," said Redgy, whowas close by, "and they have not gained an inch yet."
"Ay, but if they _were_ to gain an inch, it would be all up with