My mission proved fruitless.

Mrs.Hulley, the wife of the absent interpreter, who had three little ones, Miss Owen and the servant, Jane Williams, were all of them anxious enough to do as I suggested.

But Mr.and Mrs.Owen, who were filled with the true fervour of missionaries, would not listen.
They said that God would protect them; that they had only been a few weeks in the country, and that it would be the act of cowards and of traitors to fly at the very beginning of their work.

Here I may add that after the massacre of Retief they changed their opinion, small blame to them, and fled as fast as anyone else.
I told Mr.Owen how very close I had gone to shooting Dingaan, in which event they might all have been killed with us.

This news shocked him much.