He prayed hard for mercy, but in vain, for one of them, whom the cruel massacre had deprived of a parent, blew out his brains before any one could interfere, exclaiming: "Wena! uyabulala ubawo bam!" (You! murderer of my father!) While searching about the place a shot was fired at us by some fellow skulking in the bush, to the edge of which we had incautiously wandered. Gordon had a narrow escape, as the ball ploughed up the ground at his feet, and covered him with the soil. The Fingoes immediately dashed in, in pursuit, making the wood ring with their yells. From the elevated site of the smouldering village we had a fine and unexpected view of the sea at only a few miles distance, the intervening country, grassy and well wooded, being intersected by the winding Kareiga. We bivouacked for breakfast, boiling our coffee on the embers of the huts, and spreading our rations of beef and black biscuit on the trampled grass, not many yards from the corpses of those who had fallen. A few stray Kaffirs were espied stealing away through the open bush in the valley below, and though far out of range, set all the Fingoes firing away at once in the wildest manner imaginable. After resting for about half an hour we returned by the road we had traversed the night before, which was, of course, up-hill all the way back. It was now intensely hot; and after having marched thirty-five miles the previous day, and been on foot two nights successively, we found it heavy work, nearly all being half asleep as we staggered along the burning road. I found myself several times in a state of somnambulism, starting out of sleep as I stumbled over the inequalities of the ground, wondering for the instant where I was. Thus we plodded on till late in the evening, when jaded and weary we again reached the bivouac left eighteen hours before, during seventeen of which we had never rested. The steady and soldier-like manner in which the men performed this march, so soon after landing from a long sea voyage, deservedly elicited the commendations of the General in Orders. It was with a feeling of relief and pleasure, known only to those who have undergone the excessive fatigues of such a forced march, that we threw ourselves down to rest, and kicked the shoes off our burning feet.