memories as to all the salient features.
'Koots must try to land as close to the fort as possible. Every mile he is forced to march will compound his difficulties ten times over,' Dorian muttered.
This was a dangerous, treacherous coast: the steeply shelving beaches and rocky headlands were exposed to a high surf and open to sudden gales. Nativity Bay was almost the only secure harbour within a hundred miles. The one other possible landing was at the mouth of a large river, which ran into the sea only a few miles north of the entrance to Nativity Bay. The local tribes called this river Umgeni. Large war-dhows would not be able to negotiate the shallow bar at the entrance, but smaller boats could do so with ease.
That is where Koots will land,' Dorian told Tom with finality. 'In his longboats, he could send five hundred men up the river in a few hours.'
Tom nodded. 'However, once he got them ashore, they would still race a march of many miles through rugged country to reach the fort.'
'We had best find out just how rugged it really is,' Dorian said, and he put the Revenge about and they sailed back southwards, keeping as close inshore as the wind and tide would allow. They stood at the starboard rail and studied the shore through their telescopes.
There was a continuous sweep of beach all the way, sugary brown sands pounded by an unremitting surf. 'If they stuck to the beach, carrying their own armour, weapons and supplies, they would make heavy weather of marching through that deep sand,' Tom opined. 'What is more they would be vulnerable for the whole march to the cannonade of our ships.'
'Added to which is that, if he is trying to surprise us, Koots would never send them along the open beach. He knows we would spot such a large force at once. He must detour inland,' Dorian decided. Tell me, brother, the bush above the beach seems impenetrable. Is it really so?'
'It is very thick, but not impenetrable,' Tom told him. 'Also there are marshy and swampy areas. The bush is infested with buffalo and rhino, and the swamps are filled with crocodile. However, there are game paths along a ridge of slightly higher ground that runs parallel to the shore, about two cables' length inland from the beach. It remains dry and firm at all seasons and states of the tide.'
'Then we must go over the ground carefully and mark that path,' Dorian said, and they sailed back into the bay. The following morning, accompanied by Jim and Mansur, they rode along the beach until they reached the mouth of the Umgeni river.
'That was easy going.' Mansur checked his pocket watch. 'We covered the ground in less than three hours.'
'That may be so. But the enemy will be marching on foot, not mounted,' Jim pointed out, 'and we will have them in easy grapeshot range from the ships.'
'Yes,' Dorian acknowledged. 'Tom and I have already agreed that they must move inland. We want to scout that route now.'
They followed the south bank of the Umgeni river upstream for a mile or so until it entered the hills and the banks became steep and high, making the going difficult even for their small party.
'No, they will not come this far inland. They will be trying to invest the fort with all the speed they can. They must cut through the littoral swamps,' Dorian decided.
They returned downstream, and Jim pointed out the beginning of the low causeway through the swamps. The trees along it were taller than the surrounding forest. They left the river, and headed towards it. Almost immediately the horses plunged into the black mud of the mangrove swamps. They were forced to dismount and lead them through
until they reached the ridge of firmer ground. Even here there were potholes of treacherous mud hidden under an innocuous-seeming scum of green slime. The bush grew so densely that the horses were unable to force their way through. The twisted stems of ancient milk wood trees formed serried ranks like armoured warriors and their branches hung down and entwined with the amatimgoola shrub, whose long, sturdy thorns could pierce the leather of their boots and inflict deep, painful wounds.
They were forced to move along the game paths that crisscrossed this jungle, which were nothing more than narrow tunnels of vegetation forged by buffalo and rhinoceros. The thorny roofs were so low that again they were forced to dismount and lead the horses. Even then they had to stoop and the thorns rasped on their empty saddles, scoring the leather. The mosquitoes and biting midges rose in black clouds from the mud holes and swarmed around their sweating faces, crawling into their ears and nostrils.
'When Kadem and Koots drew up their battle plan, neither of them had tried to march through this.' Tom lifted his hat and mopped his face and shiny pate.
'We can make him pay for every yard in heavy coin,' Jim said. Until now, he had been silent since they left the beach. 'In here it will all be close work, hand to hand. Bows and spears will have the advantage over muskets and cannon.'
'Bows and spears?' Dorian demanded, with sudden interest. 'Who will wield them?'
'My good friend and brother in blood and war, King Beshwayo and his bloodthirsty savages,' said Jim proudly.
Tell me about him,' Dorian ordered.
'It's a long story, Uncle. It will have to wait until we get back to the fort. That is, if we can ever find our way home through this hellish tangle.'
That evening, after dinner, all the family remained in the refectory. Sarah stood behind Tom's chair with one arm draped over his shoulder. At intervals she rubbed the mosquito bites on his bald pate. When she did that, he closed his eyes in quiet enjoyment. At the other end of the table Dorian sat with Mansur on one side of him and his hookah on the other.
Verity had never looked upon herself as a domesticated creature, but since her arrival at Fort Auspice she had found a deep satisfaction in
homemaking and caring for Mansur. She and Louisa, who were so different in nearly every way, had taken to each other from their first meeting. Now they moved quietly around the big room, clearing away the dinner dishes, serving endless cups of coffee to their menfolk, or coming to sit close to them and listen to their talk, from time to time adding their own opinions to the conversation. Louisa was well occupied with Master George. This was the time of the day that they all enjoyed most.
Tell me about Beshwayo,' Dorian ordered Jim, and he laughed,
'Ah! You have not forgotten.' He picked up his son from the floor and placed him comfortably in his lap. 'You have raised enough hell for one day, my boy. Now I am going to tell a story,' he said.
'Story!' said George, and subsided at once. He laid his golden curls against Jim's shoulder, and thrust his thumb into his mouth.
'After you and Mansur sailed away in the Revenge and the Sprite, Louisa and I loaded up our wagons and set off into the wilderness to look for elephant and try to make contact with the tribes so that we could open trade with them.'
'Jim makes it sound as though I went willingly,' Louisa protested.
'Come now, Hedgehog, be honest. You have been bitten by the wander bug as deeply as I have.' Jim smiled. 'But let me go on. I knew that there were many large war parties of Nguni coming down with their herds from the north.'
'How did you discover that?' Dorian demanded.
'Inkunzi told me, and I sent Bakkat out far northwards to read the sign.'
'Bakkat I know well, of course. But Inkunzi? I only vaguely remember, the name.'
Then let me remind you, Uncle. Inkunzi was Queen Manatasee's chief herdsman. When I captured her cattle, he came with me rather than be parted from his beloved animals.'
'Of course! How could I ever forget it, Jim boy. Wonderful story.'
'Inkunzi and Bakkat guided us into the hinterland to find the other rampaging tribes of Nguni. Some were hostile and dangerous as nests of poisonous cobras or man-eating lions. We had a few scrapes with them, I can tell you. Then we came across Beshwayo.'
'Where did you find him?'
'About two hundred leagues north-west of here,' Jim explained. 'He was bringing his tribe and all their cattle down the escarpment. Our meeting was most propitious. I had just come upon three big elephant bulls. I did not know that Beshwayo was spying upon us from a nearby hilltop. He had never seen mounted men or a musket before. For me it
was a most fortunate hunt. I was able to drive the elephant out of the thick forest into the open grassland. There, I rode them down one after the other, with Bakkat loading and passing me the guns. I managed to kill all three within a two-mile gallop on Drumfire. From his lookout Beshwayo watched it all. Afterwards he told me that it had been his intention to attack the wagons and massacre us all, but having seen the way I shot and rode he decided against it. He's a forthright rascal, is King Beshwayo.'
'He's a terrifying monster of a man,' Louisa corrected him. 'That is why he and Jim get along so well together.'
'Not true.' Jim chuckled. 'It was not I who won him over. It was Louisa. He had never seen hair like hers, or anything to match this cub to whom she had just given birth. Beshwayo loves cattle and sons.' They both looked down fondly at the child in his arms. George had not been able to stay the course. The comforting warmth of his father's body and the sound of his voice was always a powerful soporific and
