In five minutes the fate of the battle was decided.Taken on both flanks,and dismayed by the awful slaughter inflicted upon them by the Grays and Buffaloes,Twala's regiments broke into flight,and soon the whole plain between us and Loo was scattered with groups of flying soldiers,making good their retreat.As for the forces that had so recently surrounded us and the Buffaloes,they melted away as though by magic,and presently we were left standing there like a rock from which the sea has retreated.
But what a sight it was!Around us the dead and dying lay in heaped-up masses,and of the gallant Grays there remained alive but ninety-five men.
More than two thousand nine hundred had fallen in this one regiment,most of them never to rise again.
"Men,"said Infadoos,calmly,as between the intervals of binding up a wound in his arm he surveyed what remained to him of his corps,"ye have kept up the reputation of your regiment,and this day's fighting will be spoken of by your children's children."Then he turned round and shook Sir Henry Curtis by the hand."Thou art a great man,Incubu,"he said,simply;"I have lived a long life among warriors,and known.many a brave one,yet have I never seen a man like thee."At this moment the Buffaloes began to march past our position on the road to Loo,and as they did so a message was brought to us from Ignosi requesting Infadoos,Sir Henry,and myself to join him.Accordingly,orders having been issued to the remaining ninety men of the Grays to employ themselves in collecting the wounded,we joined Ignosi,who informed us that he was pressing on to Loo to complete the victory by capturing Twala,if that should be possible.Before we had gone far we suddenly discovered the figure of Good sitting on an ant-heap about one hundred paces from us.Close beside him was the body of a Kukuana.
"He must be wounded,"said Sir Henry,anxiously.As he made the remark,an untoward thing happened.The dead body of the Kukuana soldier,or rather what had appeared to be his dead body,suddenly sprang up,knocked Good head over heels off the ant-heap,and began to spear him.We rushed forward in terror,and as we drew near we saw the brawny warrior making dig after dig at the prostrate Good,who at each prod jerked all his limbs into the air.Seeing us coming,the Kukuana gave one final most vicious dig,and with a shout of "Take that,wizard,"bolted off.Good did not move,and we concluded that our poor comrade was done for.Sadly we came towards him,and were indeed astonished to find him pale and faint indeed,but with a serene smile upon his face,and his eyeglass still fixed in his eye.
"Capital armor this,"he murmured,on catching sight of our faces bending over him."How sold he must have been,"and then he fainted.On examination we discovered that he had been seriously wounded in the leg by a tolla in the course of the pursuit,but that the chain-armor had prevented his last assailant's spear from doing anything more than bruise him badly.
It was a merciful escape.As nothing could be done for him at the moment,he was placed on one of the wicker shields used for the wounded,and carried along with us.
On arriving before the nearest gate of Loo we found one of our regiments watching it in obedience to orders received from Ignosi.The remaining regiments were in the same way watching the other exits to the town.The officer in command of this regiment coming up,saluted lgnosi as king,and informed him that Twala's army had taken refuge in the town,whither Twala himself had also escaped,but that he thought they were thoroughly demoralized,and.would surrender.Thereupon lgnosi,after taking counsel with us,sent forward heralds to each gate ordering the defenders to open,and promising on his royal word life and forgiveness to every soldier who laid down his arms.The message was not without its effect.Presently,amid the shouts and cheers of the Buffaloes,the bridge was dropped across the fosse,and the gates upon the farther side flung open.
Taking due precautions against treachery,we marched on into the town.All along the roadways stood dejected warriors,their heads drooping and their shields and spears at their feet,who,as Ignosi passed,saluted him as king.On we marched,straight to Twala's kraal.When we reached the great space,where a day or two previously we had seen the review and the witch-hunt,we found it deserted.No,not quite deserted,for there,on the farther side,in front of his hut,sat Twala himself,with but one attendant -Gagool.
It was a melancholy sight to see him seated there,his battle-axe and shield by his side,his chin upon his mailed breast,with but one old crone for companion,and,notwithstanding his cruelties and misdeeds,a pang of compassion shot through me as I saw him thus "fallen from his high estate."Not a soldier of all his armies,not a courtier out of the hundreds who had cringed round him,not even a solitary wife,remained to share his fate or halve the bitterness of his fall.Poor savage!he was learning the lesson that fate teaches to most who live long enough,that the eyes of mankind are blind to the discredited,and that he who is defenceless and fallen finds few friends and little mercy.Nor,indeed,in this case did he deserve any.
Filing through the kraal gate,we marched straight across the open space to where the ex-king sat.When within about fifty yards the regiment was halted,and,accompanied only by a small guard,we advanced towards him,Gagool reviling us bitterly as we came.As we drew near,Twala,for the first time,lifted up his plumed head,and fixed his one eye,which seemed to flash with suppressed fury almost as brightly as the great diadem bound round his forehead,upon his successful rival -Ignosi.
