thirty yards of the stoep--for now the light, growing swiftly, was
strong enough to enable me to distinguish him by his apparel and the
rifle which he held--I loosed at him with the "roer" and shot him dead.
Indeed the heavy bullet passing through his body mortally wounded
another of the Quabies behind. These were the first men that I ever
killed in war.

As they fell, Leblanc and the rest of our people fired also, the slugs
from their guns doing great execution at that range, which was just long
enough to allow them to scatter. When the smoke cleared a little I saw
that nearly a dozen men were down, and that the rest, dismayed by this
reception, had halted. If they had come on then, while we were loading,
doubtless they might have rushed the place; but, being unused to the
terrible effects of firearms, they paused, amazed. A number of them,
twenty or thirty perhaps, clustered about the bodies of the fallen
Kaffirs, and, seizing my second gun, I fired both barrels at these with
such fearful effect that the whole regiment took to their heels and
fled, leaving their dead and wounded on the ground. As they ran our
servants cheered, but I called to them to be silent and load swiftly,
knowing well that the enemy would soon return.

For a time, however, nothing happened, although we could hear them
talking somewhere near the cattle kraal, about a hundred and fifty yards
away. Marie took advantage of this pause, I remember, to fetch food and
distribute it among us. I, for one, was glad enough to get it.

Now the sun was up, a sight for which I thanked Heaven, for, at any
rate, we could no longer be surprised. Also, with the daylight, some of
my fear passed away, since darkness always makes danger twice as
terrible to man and beast. Whilst we were still eating and fortifying