CHAP. XII. 
THE BATTLE OF THE GUANGA. 
85 
roam by day ; he prowls by night.’ On this further 
words passed between the savage chiefs, and the word 
6 coward ’ was used ; but the elder chief terminated the 
dialogue by saying he would not take umbrage at the 
epithet used by the more impetuous warrior—he, the 
6 wild cat,’ would cross the open country that night 
in the dark, and wait for the brave man who might 
cross the ‘open’ in the daytime under the sun. 
It thus happened that Umhala and his warriors 
crossed the open country between the Keiskama River 
and the Fish River bush during the night about the 
same time that a column of troops under General 
Somerset was moving from Fort Peddie up the belt of 
open country dividing the two rivers in search of the 
enemy. 
As daylight broke we—for I was with the column— 
came upon the track or spoor, of this body of Kafirs 
at right angles with our own march, who must have 
passed over the open just before us. The trace showed 
a broad space of some twenty yards wide, with the grass 
trodden down and the dew dispersed from it. The 
General at once followed up this spoor, and as the sun 
rose w T e came suddenly upon a large mass of the enemy, 
who had fires lit, and were at their morning repast of 
dried flesh and parched Indian corn. 
We were on a slope looking down on them at about 
600 yards’ distance, the Kafirs being in an open, sur- 
