about noon
As Rachel had travelled up from the Tugela to the Great Place , so she travelled back from the Great Place to the Tugela in state and dignity such as became a thing divine , perhaps the first white woman , moreover , who had ever entered Zululand . All day she rode alone , Tamboosa leading the white ox before her and Richard following behind , while in front and to the rear marched the serried ranks of the impi , her escort . At night , as before , she slept alone in the empty kraals provided for her , attended by the best-born maidens , Richard being lodged in some hut without the fence . So at length , about noon one day , they reached the banks of the Tugela , not many hours after Ishmael had crossed it , and camped there . Now , after she had eaten , Rachel sent for Richard , with whom she had found but few opportunities to talk during that journey . He came and stood before her , as all must do , and she addressed him in English while the spies and captains watched him sullenly , for they were angry at this use of a foreign tongue which they could not understand . Preserving a cold and distant air , she asked him of his health , and how he had fared .