Falling back, therefore, to the rear as the Kaffirs advanced, I manoeuvred to remain in the shadow of the bush while they went on. In the kraal before me there was, unfortunately, no wakeful eye to warn the sleepers of their danger, and the Kaffirs, approaching silently with the stealthy tread of a cat, had even scaled the fences before a sound was heard. Then the dogs began to bark and the cows to low, for in Caffraria cattle can at times be made to serve in place of the watchful canine animals themselves; but, before their masters could be aroused by the warning, they were startled into consciousness of their peril by their huts being pierced by the assagais of the enemy, whose loud yells of triumph rang awfully through the still air. A terrible scene ensued--warriors who had had only time to seize their weapons issued forth but to be slaughtered, while women and children mostly shared the same fate. Some of the fragile huts were crushed down altogether--the inmates under them--into which heaps the enemy frequently thrust their spears to destroy the miserable beings beneath. I waited impatiently for an end to this frightful scene of bloodshed, and each moment expected to see the cattle drawn out to a place of safety and the kraal set on fire as ours had been; but there appeared no signs of this. Owing to the unfairness of the fight, it speedily began to subside; yet the cattle remained in the isibaya. Had the enemy been exterminated, or had they yielded? I waited yet a little longer, then became certain one or other was the case, for the fight seemed over, while Metilulu's regiment were already forming into order. Consequently, thinking it as well now to join them, I hastened from the bush and entered the kraal. It presented a horrible sight to one who, like myself, was unused to bloodshed and battlefields, though no doubt it was not so ghastly as that presented by one of our civilised engagements; for here were no shattered limbs, no torn gaping wounds, no headless trunks, and bodies rent in twain by cannon shot. The assagai, or, occasionally, the knob-kerrie, had alone been used; and strewn over the ground were the dead forms of the Kaffirs, the spears which had caused their deaths yet remaining buried deep up the shaft in the victims, the victors not having had time to collect them. In some parts, where the fight had been the thickest, they laid in heaps; yet, with but few exceptions, the positions of all retained a look of graceful, easy repose. Notwithstanding, to me, it was a sickening sight to behold so many who, but an hour before, had been full of healthful life, now lying there extended on the plain--dead.