Chelmsford was, and that Haynes was sent for and thanked in the most flattering manner for his ingenuity and perseverance. As has been said, Pearson informed Lord Chelmsford of the imminent Zulu attack; he also added that his last raid had been successful and that some cattle had been captured; and that the road he had cut under fire through the bush southwards would shorten the advance or his sortie by at least five miles, and that his people were under no apprehensions of famine or assault for some days. He had improved his defences, his parapet having a command of six feet, flanked by a couple of well-made _caponnières_ on the northern and southern faces, with a loopholed building on the north-west and a sunken stockade in the south-west angle. His four guns--two Gatlings and two rocket-tubes, in addition to his Martini-Henrys--he considered sufficient to render his fort impregnable to everything except hunger, and should the latter come on through Lord Chelmsford's inability or delay in coming, he purposed making a final and desperate sortie for life and liberty. This message was committed to writing, and read out to the men, who answered it with cheers of delight and enthusiasm. At four a.m. on the 31st ult., in the early dawn the troops paraded outside the laager on the Inyoni. For the first day the march had been without impediment or opposition; progress here and there, it is true, was slightly impeded by portions of swampy ground; but so eager were the men to get forward that the waggons were pushed vigorously through the mud by willing hands. The 57th Regiment, which had only lately arrived from Ceylon, were a little out of condition, and the fatigue and wet had told upon them in a greater degree than the regiments arrived from England. After a pleasant march, the Amatikula river was reached, where the camp was formed with the waggons as usual in laager, and shelter-trenches formed at fifteen paces beyond. The night passed without any alarm, and at six the column marched for Ginghilovo.