WAR-SCARE. 145 



under Portuguese rule, and who in return under- 

 take to rally round it in case of disturbances 

 or war. 



There really was a war scare in 1883, it being 

 rumoured that the Swazies were coming to attack 

 the Amatongas, so the officers and troops and 

 Kafir warriors were ordered to the frontier to 

 meet the enemy, and then a steady stream of 

 women and children laden with household goods 

 defiled into or near the town for protection, con- 

 tinuing for three days. Some Europeans, too, 

 left their houses and went within the town walls. 

 I had one or two offers of shelter, but did not 

 feel alarmed, and preferred to take care of my 

 cottage. The cannons were taken from the fort 

 and placed so as to face the roads, and a guard 

 of white residents was called, and positions as- 

 signed to each, but I did hear that many kept 

 their night-watch by drinking and singing in 

 various canteens. 



The scare was all over in five days, and the 

 warriors came straggling back in a drenching 



rain, with bedraggled plumes and weary feet. 



K 



