； and the vast； rolling high veld of the Transvaal territory。 Still I can see the fearful sweeping thunderstorms that overtook us； to be followed by moonlit nights of surpassing brilliancy which we watched from beside the fires of our camp。 Those camps were very pleasant； and in them； as we smoked and drank our “square face” after a day’s trek； I heard many a story of savage Africa from Sir Theophilus himself； from Osborn and from Fynney； who next to him； perhaps； knew as much of the Zulus and their history as any living in Natal。
For instance； Osborn actually saw the battle of the Tugela； which took place between the rival princes Cetewayo and Umbelazi in 1856。 With the temerity of a young man he swam his horse across the river and hid himself in a wooded kopje in the middle of the battlefield。 He saw Umbelazi’s host driven back and the veteran regiment； nearly three thousand strong； that Panda had sent to aid his favourite son； move up to its support。 He described to me the frightful fray that followed。 Cetewayo sent out a regiment against it。 They met； and he said that the roll of the shields as they came together was like to that of the deepest thunder。 Then the Greys passed over Cetewayo’s regiment as a wave passes over a sunken ridge of rock； and left it dead。 Another regiment came against them and the scene repeated itself； only more slowly； for many of the veterans were down。 Now the six hundred of them who remained formed themselves in a ring upon a hillock and fought on till they were buried beneath the heaps of the slain。
I have described this battle； in which and the subsequent rout tens of thousands of people perished； in a romance as yet unpublished5 that I have written under the title of “Child of Storm。” It is wonderful that Osborn should h