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On the way they came on a sight which filled Orpin with sadness and anxiety. It was the ruins of a village, which from the appearance of the remains had evidently been occupied in part by white men. He observed that a gleam of satisfaction lit up Hintza's swarthy visage for a moment as he passed the place. Dismounting, the party proceeded to examine the ruins, but found nothing.
He instantly despatched messengers to stop the carnage, and said that if it continued after three hours he would shoot two of Hintza's suite for every Fingo killed. In less than ten minutes the messengers of the chiefs were scampering off at full speed in different directions with orders!
He became the guest of Colonel Smith, and the Governor presented him with numerous conciliatory gifts. Thereafter the camp was broken up and the Governor took his departure. No sooner was his back turned than Hintza's people commenced a general massacre of the Fingoes. About thirty were murdered in cold blood near to Colonel Somerset's camp.
But now a cloud was lowering over the land which had been imperceptibly, though surely, gathering on the horizon for years past. We have said that hitherto the colony, despite many provocations, thefts, and occasional murders, had lived in a state of peace with the Kafirs the only time that they took up arms for a brief space being in their defence, at Hintza's request, against the Fetcani.
Hintza's warriors were present at that affair, to the number of about twenty thousand, and they hovered about during the engagement admiringly, though without rendering assistance.
Towards the afternoon of the day on which they marched, a circumstance occurred which justified Colonel Smith's suspicions as to Hintza's sincerity.
Turning sharply, he saw Hintza's head and his uplifted arm among the bushes within a few feet of him. The savage was in the act of hurling another assagai. Quick as thought the guide levelled his gun and fired. The shot completely shattered the upper part of Hintza's skull, and next instant a mangled corpse was all that remained of the paramount chief of Kafirland.
Their eager offer to serve under the British Chief was therefore most natural, but Sir Benjamin declined their services at the time, as war had not yet been declared. Soon after, a detachment of thirty men was sent back to the colony with despatches, in charge of an ensign named Armstrong, who was waylaid and murdered by some of Hintza's Kafirs.
On being questioned, the chief declined to give any explanation on the subject, and the Kafirs not only did not come in, as they were ordered, but made off, and carried the horse of Hintza's messenger along with them! The suspicion excited by this circumstance was increased by the evasive answers given to the Colonel's repeated inquiries as to the point on which Hintza wished the troops to march.
In a few minutes the troops were marched out of the fort, and next day reached the right bank of the Kei River. This was the western boundary of Hintza's particular territory. On arriving, the Governor issued general orders to the effect that Hintza was not "to be treated as an enemy."
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