Although the Zulus shouted and shrieked, and rushed on as if resolved
that nothing should stop their progress until they were inside the
stockade, the resolute front exhibited by Captain Broderick and his men
evidently damped their ardour as they approached. Had the guns been
fired while they were at a distance, when the shot would have produced
comparatively little effect, they would have come on more boldly, but
the perfect silence maintained by the defenders puzzled them. They
observed also that there were fewer men on the walls than they had
before seen, and they began to fancy that an ambuscade had been formed,
by which they might suddenly be attacked on the flank. So Captain
Broderick suspected. He remarked that the rear ranks were not coming on
at the same speed as those in front, while many of the men were looking
uneasily over their left shoulders. He still waited, however, until the
front rank, led by the most daring of their chiefs, had got within
half-musket range.