The covenant - James A. Michener [347]
The leaders had chosen a flattish area at the base of a small hill, which meant that Mzilikazi's regiments would have to attack up a slight slope or down a steep one; at either point they would be at a disadvantage. To the surprise of the Voortrekkers, the enemy chose the steep southwest slope, and there they established an enormous camp, preparing methodically for the assault that must destroy the laager and all within it.
For two days the regiments sharpened their assegais and perfected their signals for the big thrust. During this time the Voortrekkers could see the enemy and hear him attending his duties; at night the Matabele campfires flared, and men wondered: Will the attack come at dawn?
On 16 October 1836 the Matabele were ready, and started slowly toward a position opposite the laager, whereupon Tjaart asked Theunis to lead the defenders in prayer, but once again Balthazar Bronk objected on the grounds that the defense might be imperiled if an improper clergyman was allowed to utter his own prayers. To this Tjaart responded, 'The enemy is ten minutes from us and we need God's help,' but Bronk was insistent: 'God is perfect. His church is perfect. Neither can tolerate a blemished man.' So Theunis was silenced, but Tjaart himself was encouraged to lead a prayer, which was short, impassioned, and a mighty solace to those who kept one eye open to watch the remorseless approach of some six thousand battle-hardened Matabele.
The leaders resolved to approach the Matabele in a startling way. A fearless patriarch named Hendrik Potgieter, famed for having had five wives in rapid succession, proposed that a sortie of twenty to thirty menmore than half the entire forceride out into the middle of the black commanders and try to reason with them. It was this kind of action only an idiot would devise, or a man who felt the touch of God upon his shoulder.
'I'll go!' Tjaart said.
'I'll go!' Theunis Nel echoed.
Soon Potgieter had twenty-four volunteers besides himself, and then a twenty-fifth. It was Balthazar Bronk, whom Jakoba had shamed into joining: 'Are you afraid to die?' Reluctantly accepting the gun she thrust at him, he joined the suicide patrol.
On signal from Potgieter, these daring men left the safety of their laager, spurred their horses, and rode at breakneck speed directly at the heart of the enemy. One of the Coloureds in the laager had served with a hunter in Matabele lands, and through him, Potgieter addressed the warriors: 'Why do you wish to attack us? We come in friendship.'
'You come to steal our lands,' a commander shouted.
'No! We come to live in peace.'
'Mzilikazi, the Great Bull Elephant, is angry. His word is that you must die.' One commander raised his assegai and shouted the war cry 'Mzilikazi!'
At this signal the regiments started running toward the Voortrekkers, who sped back to the safety of their laager. That they made it could only be attributed to God's providence, for the odds against them were crushing. But they succeeded, firing from the saddle at the advancing Matabele.
Not all entered the laager. Five men, totally demoralized by the hordes of black warriors and withered by fear as assegais flew about them, reached the entrance with the others, but then ahead of them they saw an escape route which would carry them all the way to Thaba Nchu and safety. Without consciously intending to be cowards, they accepted this invitation so enticingly put before them. They took flight.
Young Paulus de Groot, standing by the entrance to welcome the returning Voortrekkers, saw with amazement that they were quitting the fight, and cried, 'They're running away.' And these five became known in Voortrekker history as the Fear Commando. In their lead as they fled was Balthazar Bronk, his face ashen with awful dread.
'May God have mercy upon our children,' Jakoba muttered, and then no further prayers were said, for with a single, terrifying scream the black soldiers fell upon the laager.
At every moment for more than a hour it seemed that the chain of wagons must crumble, and so many assegais fell