man
was a master marksman with the heavy rifle that had so often broken the
bound of the lion and stopped the charging rhinoceros when to miss was
death. In every one's heart was a flame of hate for the ruthless Zulu.
" Remember Retief" was a mutter that ran from man to man as the troop
rode on. They longed for revenge as thirsty men crave water. They
advanced, too, with the spirit of the Israelites of old and of
Cromwell's Ironsides. They marched only between matins and evensong.
They prayed in their saddles and lifted their voices in psalms. Surely
the God of their covenant had the power to confound any might of the
heathen and deliver their enemy into their hands.
When
they drew near to the Zulus, Pretorius halted, and with all his men
offered a vow to the God of their fathers, should He grant them the
victory, "to raise a house in memory of His great name wherever it
should please Him, and note the day in a book to make it known to
latest posterity." x
With
this simple confidence in Divine protection there was the shrewdest
practical judgment in selecting the best possible post to offset their
comparative weakness in numbers and intrench their little force. Their
laager was pitched at the junction of a broad river reach, called a
sea-cow hole, with a deep, dry water-course, covering both flanks.
Here, on Sunday, the 16th of December, 1838, at five o'clock in the
morning, they were attacked by a force of many thousand Zulus and
fought for more than five hours. Impi after impi, reckless of life,
charged up to the rifle front belching smoke, flame, and bullets, only
to reel back before the deadly hail. When even this raging horde
wavered, Pretorius with one hundred and fifty picked horsemen circled
about and struck their rear with a charge so fiery that the Zulus were
utterly routed. The Boers drove the blacks to the river, shooting and
trampling them under the feet of their horses. " The Kafirs lay on the
ground," said one horseman, " like pumpkins in a rich soil that has
borne a large crop." The sea-cow hole was packed so full that " the
water looked like a
1 "Annals of" Natal," pp. 246-249, 448.
