sir?" inquired George. "I have heard that theDutch have very little discipline in their armies."
"Very little, but their tactics are the thing. When they knew that abattle was imminent, they laagered their waggons together, and stationedtheir foot-soldiers in and behind them. The mounted men, of which theirforce principally consisted, waited at some distance until the Zuluassault on the waggons had begun. Then they opened a fire upon themwith their rifles, which killed great numbers, and at last obliged themto turn off and attack them. They waited until the Zulus were almostbut not quite within what was called assegay distance, and then firedvolley after volley into them. When the Zulus advanced nearer, theygalloped off to a little distance, and fired as before, repeating themanoeuvre until the blacks were obliged to retire, with immense loss ofkilled and wounded, while hardly a man on their own side was touched.It wasn't much better with the Zulus on their attack on the laager.They managed to fling a few assegays into, and under, the waggons; butthe Boers fired upon them, under almost complete shelter, and shot themdown by hundreds. Dingaan was obliged to make peace, and restore thecattle, mine among the rest."
"That must have been near about the end of Dingaan's reign," observedthe Swedish clergyman.
"Yes, in less than two years afterwards the Dutch deposed Dingaan, andmade his brother Panda king. Dingaan fled to the Amaswazis, and theyput him to death. Panda had a long reign of more than thirty years, andduring that period there was very little fighting with the Europeansettlers. He was a different kind of character altogether from his twobrothers, and loved ease and quiet. But I believe his disposition wasalmost as cruel as theirs."
"You are right, sir," said Mr Bilderjik. "He was as bloodthirsty aseither of them, though he shed the blood of his own people only. Hewould inflict the most frightful penalties for the smallest offences.If one of his oxen was over-driven or hurt, he would order the cowherdto be impaled. Even for slighter offences than this, if the smallestthing occurred to annoy or cross him, he would sentence the offender todeath, and his soldiers were always ready to execute his commandswithout hesitation. His barbarity drove his subjects away in suchnumbers, that Natal was almost peopled with them. He was a weak ruler,however, and for the last twenty years of his reign his son Cetewayo,who is now on the throne, was virtually king."
"Cetewayo!" observed George. "Ah, I want to know about him! We hearplenty in England. There is great alarm, is there not, that he willinvade this country? I heard them talking of it at Maritzburg."
"There is great alarm, no doubt," said the farmer, "and it is no greatwonder, seeing that Natal has twice been invaded and devastated by theZulus. But I do not myself believe that he will ever cross the Tugela,unless he himself is first attacked, and drives his enemies before him.But I should like to know what you think about him, Hardy. Living sonear to him as you once did, your opinion must be valuable."
"Yes, I lived in Zululand for several years after I left the army," saidHardy, "and I saw and heard enough of Cetewayo during that time, to forma decided opinion about him."
"And what was that opinion, Mr Hardy?" inquired George.
"If I remember right, the English agreed to place him on the throne, oncondition that the lawless and indiscriminate shedding of human bloodshould be put a stop to, and that no one should be put to death, untilafter a trial and sentence. There are those that say that this compactwas faithfully kept to."
"And it was," said Hardy, "so long as Cetewayo was insecure of histhrone. At first this was the case, and he knew that the best hope ofestablishing his power lay in the support of the English. For the firstfew years of his reign, therefore, he did, as a rule, loyally carry outthe promises he had given. But those who watched him most closely knowthat he never intended to be a tributary sovereign to any one. From thefirst he revived and developed his uncle Chaka's military policy. Hereinstated the old regiments, and formed new ones, carefully choosingmen to lead them who were qualified to carry out his designs. Herebuilt the military kraals, and obliged his soldiers to live unmarried,as his uncle had done."
"Ay," interposed George, "as Sultan Amurath did, when he instituted theJanissaries."
"I daresay you are right, sir," said Hardy, "though I never heard ofhim. Well, the only difference Cetewayo made in his dealings with hismen was that he armed them with guns. In all other respects it was thereproduction of Chaka's army--the same enormous numbers, the same closeand jealous discipline, the same absolute devotion to the king's will,without hesitation or question. If Cetewayo had ever intended to befaithful to his engagements with the English, of what use could thisenormous and costly army have been to him? It is ridiculous to say itwould be needed to put down the Tongas or the Swazies, or even to resistthe aggressions of the Boers. There is but one use to which he couldhave intended to put it, and that is to drive the white man out of theland."
"Well, there are many, at all events, that think that," observed MrBaylen. "You think, then, that he is going to declare war."
"I doubt his doing that," said Hardy. "But I think he will provoke theEnglish to attack him--to invade Zululand, in fact."
"Why should he want them to do that?" asked Redgy.
"He will then fight greatly at an advantage," said Hardy. "In fact, hethinks that he sees his way to victory. I don't say I agree with him inthat--indeed, I don't. But there is a good deal to be said on his side.Zululand is a difficult country for an army to traverse. He knowsevery inch of it, and they do not. The climate is often very unhealthyto white men. Disease would probably break out among them, if he couldkeep them any time there, whereas his own men are thoroughly inured toit. His numbers, again, are vastly in excess of theirs, and if he couldattack them when off their guard, he might inflict frightful loss uponthem. All these chances are in his favour, and he knows them well."
"In fact, he is trying to pick a quarrel," said Redgy.
"And he may succeed," added Hardy. "Indeed--" He checked himself andwent on, "Then as to his natural disposition--you asked me what Ithought about that too. I think he is just like his ancestors, quite asmerciless and bloodthirsty, and even more crafty. It was said thatduring the first few years of his reign he _never_ put any one to deathunless he had really been guilty of some great offence, and that therewas always a regular trial and conviction. How much truth there is inthat, you may judge from what I am now going to tell you.
"When I first settled in Zululand, there was a Wesleyan missionaryliving near me, whose name was Garnett. He was a very good man, and thepeople about there respected him much. He had made several converts,amongst others an Induna named Usumanzi, a man of means and some localimportance. Now it is certain that Cetewayo did not like themissionaries--one can very well understand why. The entire submissionto his pleasure, right or wrong, which was the first thing he insistedupon, was a thing which no Christian could fall in with. Is it not so,Mr Bilderjik?"
"Of course he could not," assented the clergyman. "A Christian's firstlaw is obedience to God's commandments, not man's. If the two came intocollision, the obedience to human authority must give way."
"Exactly so, sir," pursued Hardy. "Well, then, there is no difficultyin understanding Cetewayo's aversion to the missionaries. But at thesame time he knew that the missionaries were strongly upheld by theEnglish, and that any persecution of them on religious grounds would besternly resented. Cetewayo therefore sent a message to Mr Garnett,desiring him to pay a visit to the royal kraal. He wanted, he said, totalk to him about the good things which he taught the people. MrGarnett was only half deceived. The king really might have been movedby some desire to know the truth. But it was far more likely that hewas only pretending such a feeling, in order to get him entirely intohis own power. Usumanzi earnestly advised him not to go. He said heknew that the king had been greatly provoked by his conversion,regarding him, as he did, as a valuable servant lost to him. Cetewayowould either banish him from the country, or, what was more likely,accuse him of some imaginary cri
me, and put him to death for it.
"But Mr Garnett resolved to go. He said there was a hope of doing agreat work for his Master, and he was not to be deterred by the dangerto himself. I offered to accompany him, as I thought my presence mightbe some protection. You see, though I was living in Zululand, I wasemployed by the Natal Government to collect taxes from the native chiefsevery year. As an agent of the British Government, I knew Cetewayowould treat me with consideration, and possibly Mr Garnett on myaccount."
"Well, you were right, I expect," observed Baylen.
"I was to some extent," assented Hardy. "As soon as I made