The movements of the main Zulu army were mysterious. One day scouts arrived with the information that the enemy was in force between the Tugela and Ekowe; another day information was received that there was an army beyond the later place. The plan adopted on our side was simply to entrench and wait. A dull, monotonous round of garrison duty had to be performed at a number of posts, while the danger was so great and imminent as to turn every citizen into a soldier, and every town into a barrack. As a specimen of life at a fort, we quote from a correspondent who writes in February from "Helpmakaar:" "Here we are, foot artillery, police, and contingent, about 500 strong, living in tents during the day and going into the fort at night. With the exception of a stink of rotten mealies and the rain continually swelling through and through, the fort is not so bad, being so strong and well built that the men here now could hold it against the whole of the Zulu army. It is not healthy. Hospital leaks. What with guards, vedettes, etc., the duties are very heavy." What was said at Helpmakaar might have been said with very little variation at every other fort. The most active operations were carried on from Colonel Wood's column, whose head-quarters were entrenched at Kambula. Among its brilliant exploits was the capture, on the 20th February, of the almost inaccessible Makkatees mountain. One of the captured natives said that our troops had not come a day too soon, as Cetywayo had promised to send reinforcements. [Sidenote: _Arrival of reinforcements._]