My  hut  was  inviolate  and  well  supplied  with  necessary
food,  as  was  my  mare,  and  I  could  wander  where  I  liked  and
talk  with  whom  I  would.  I  could  even  ride  to  exercise  the
horse,  though  this  I  did  very  sparingly  and  only  in  the
immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  town  for  fear  of  exciting
suspicion  or  meeting  Zulus  whom  the  king's  word  had  not
reached.  Indeed  on  these  occasions  I  was  always  accom-
panied by  a  guard  of  swift-footed  and  armed  soldiers  sent
"  to  protect  me,"  or  more  probably  to  kill  me  if  I  did  any-
thing that  seemed  suspicious.   '

In  the  course  of  my  rambles  I  met  sundry  natives  whom
I  had  known  in  the  old  days,  some  of  them  a  long  while  ago.
They  all  seemed  glad  to  see  me  and  were  quite  ready  to
talk  of  past  times,  but  of  the  present  they  would  say  Httle
or  nothing,  except  that  they  were  certain  there  would  be
war.  Of  Anscombe  and  Heda  I  could  hear  nothing,  and
indeed  did  not  dare  to  make  any  direct  inquiries  concern-
ing them,  but  several  reliable  men  assured  me  that  the  last
missionaries  and  traders  having  departed,  there  was  not  a
white  man,  woman  or  child  left  in  Zululand  except  myself.
It  was  "  all  black  "  they  said,  referring  to  the  colour  of  their
people,  as  it  had  been  before  the  time  of  Chaka.  So  I  was
forced  to  eat  out  my  heart  with  anxiety  in  silence,  hoping
and  praying  that  ZikaU  had  played  an  honest  part  and  sent
them  away  safely.
