No fires
were lit, and it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors were
"sleeping on their spears."
With that _impi_ was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five hundred
strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the Umcityu
looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which he had
covered his body, and through the thick mist he saw a great man standing
before him, clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild-eyed man who held a
rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to, the man made no answer;
he only leaned upon his club looking from left to right along the dense
array of innumerable shields.
"Who is this _Silwana_ (wild creature)?" asked the Induna of his
captains wondering.
The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, "This is
Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in
this regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of Umgona,
was killed together with her father by order of the Black One, and
Nahoon went mad with grief at the sight of it, for the fire of Heaven
entered his brain, and mad he has wandered ever since.
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