INFURIATED WOMEN ATTACK OUR BOYS 291 
selves in readiness to march into the kraal at a moment’s notice, 
for as soon as Tschukoorroo had been before the council to 
report his portion of our affairs, we were to be marched in. 
The morning was cool and. cloudy. Half an hour later we 
were ordered by an excited messenger to hurry up at once, 
as the council was waiting for us. Half a mile ahead we were 
joined by an armed force who were huddled in a dense mass to 
receive us. As they proceeded we fell into line in their rear, 
Hammar and I walking abreast carrying our guns, with the 
boys under their loads marching two and two behind us. 
The hunters announced our arrival by an irregular fusilade 
of shots, which was answered by the shrill screams of several 
thousand women, who with their children came hurrying to¬ 
wards us, anathematising the cursed Matabele spies. ‘ Yehlla la, 
la, la, la, la, la ! we will to-day see the blood of the Matabele who 
killed our children. Hoo, hoo, where is your boasted courage ? 
Hoo, hoo, where your dacha pipe to-day ? Yella, la, la, la, la, 
la, la, kill them, kill them at once! Where is my little child 
that you killed with your assegai ? can you give it back ? Hi, 
hau, yella, la, la, la, la, la, la! 5 and some of the excited females 
dashed at our poor boys, digging at them with their blunt 
knives, and would inevitably have killed them had not the 
escort, seeing the danger, surrounded them, and kept the in¬ 
furiated women off. 
From the experiences of that day it looked as if being torn 
to pieces by lions would be mere diversion compared to the 
fate of being left to the mercies of these infuriated, almost 
maddened, women. 
Shots were going off all round us in exultation at our 
capture. Yelling and screaming women, with the sluices of 
their grief freshly opened, goading them to madness, frenziedly 
demanded our deaths, and they would have with their blunt 
knives made short work of us, but for the protection afforded 
by the escort. We agreed that the best policy was to appear 
indifferent to the whole scene; and, handing our guns to the 
bearers to carry, to show our carelessness, we lighted our pipes 
