The queen sent her own impi to stop them and gave orders that they were to be killed if they did not go away!
Another duty which fell to us was the leading of the ox-teams, for, in fact, the boys of myimpi could be used for every service not requiring the strength of a man.
The induna and hisimpi had left Rietvlei during the night and started back toward Lebombo.
I could see thousands of warriors on hand and during the afternoon a fresh impi arrived from the direction of Stegea.
As we came close Lomwazi raised his arms in greeting and the impi gave us the royal salute.
She asked if we had brought our wagons and camp outfit, and said she would send an impi to get them and bring them to Lebombo from Zombode if we had not.
Diamond-points of sunlight flashed from a thousand spearheads as impi after impi rose from the ground around Zombode.
But here we were face to face with the proposition of being forced to become indunas in the crack impi of the new King of Swaziland.
Always the impi of sharks kept pace with us, their bodies throwing up streaks of phosphorescence as they lunged for their food.
Of course the fight took place in private; it would never have done to let our impi know that we had fallen out for even a moment.
I had expected that we would accompany Buno to the cliff beyond Sheba's Breasts, but Tuys told me that the king and his impi had left during the night.
My impi backed me up, and it began to look as though some one would be badly hurt when Oom Tuys dashed out of the house and scattered us.
Some of his remarks were pointed, and Sugden promised him that he would set his impi after him just as soon as he became a "sanctified induna.
Well, where should we be if a Matabele impi were to rush in on us now?
But with morning light their peril returned, and they were reminded of this when shortly after daybreak they sighted an impi on the march.
Moreover, all round Gandela there is laid that which would blow a whole impi into the air did such walk over it.
They had broken up that impi most effectually, and taught the rebels a lesson they wouldn't forget for a long day to come.
There was an impi stationed here--up here where we are sitting, and at a signal from Qubani it was to rush the whole show.
So without a word those who had come forward returned to the main body, and the whole impi resumed its way, taking care to let them see, however, that it had no intention of drawing any nearer to the place.
Not for nothing had that formidable impi left them so quietly and peacefully the day before, they had pointed out.
Fullerton's outfit's along the Buluwayo road, and Peters and I saw a big impi making straight in that direction this morning.
The substance of this conversation was that I again urged Dingaan to kill the Boers and afterwards to send an impi to massacre their wives and families.
It was an impi of Chaka, Chief of the Zulus, that ate us up," she answered.
Now let us see this impi of yours--this impiblack and grey, that runs on four legs with fangs for spears!
Through the fire and the impi to our Grey People on the mountain," said Galazi.
He took me by the hand and said that I had done well, and he had been foolish to doubt me when I lifted up my voice to persuade him from sending an impi against the Halakazi.
At first he gave orders that an impi should be summoned to eat up the People of the Axe, but afterwards came tidings that the Boers, to the number of five hundred mounted men, were marching on the kraal Umgugundhlovu.
Is it the will of the king that an impi should be gathered to eat up this upstart?
Now after I had thwarted him in this matter of the sending of an impi to pluck the Lily from the gardens of the Halakazi, Dingaan learned to hate me.
Thither, then, went the Slaughterer presently, with such of his impi as was left to him.
Here they waited till they heard the footfall of the impi of the king's Slayers, as it came slowly along seeking them.
Therefore Dingaan yielded to the voice of his indunas and no impi was sent against the Halakazi to seek the maid that was named the Lily.
Thus, then, did the Wolf-Brethren bring death on the impi of Chaka, and this was but the first of many deaths that they wrought with the help of the wolves.
So we walked forward towards theimpi that was gathered on the further side of the kraal.
Let me wait here for the impiof Dingaan, and fight till I do.
Then, as it was these whom he was chiefly charged to kill, the captain called off the impi from watching for the dwellers in the town, and started in pursuit of Umslopogaas.
Let Tamboosa be in command of the impi, and say also that if it is not here at once, the Inkosazana will be angry and summon an impi of her own.
But an impi would go with you, or before you, and woe betide those who held you from returning to Zululand!
That is the King's order and the Inkosazana's wish, and what is more there is an impi outside to see that you obey.
Hishmel doubtless had seen you, and thinking that the Impi would kill you, came to warn you.
Rachel ate, then bade one of them say to the captain of the impi that she was ready to start.
When at length he came to the river he found the small impi awaiting him, not knowing whither they were to go or what they were to do, their only orders being that they must obey him in all things.
No, because you will go in command of an impi and show them otherwise.
All the rest might be explained when the impi came, as it would do sooner or later, especially if he could show to them that the Inkosazana was his willing wife, but the murder of Darrien could never be explained.
The fugitives, about fifty of them, passed my camp over an hour ago, and I saw theImpi following them.
I send to you now to say that you and your jackals shall have peace from me so long as you harbour none of my runaways, but if I find but one of them there, then an Impi shall wipe you out.
But as they have got this madness into their heads, I am sure that if I do not go they will send animpi here to kill everybody else, and take me prisoner.
That king had an open hand, and after an impi had returned from raiding the Amaswazi, or the Basutu, he would distribute the captive women with a free hand.
As the "covering tactic" was repeated the impi extended with lightning-like rapidity, following out the old Zulu practice of throwing out surrounding "horns.
The impi had returned from its pursuit of the rescue party, and was searching for its dead and wounded.
Large impi close on us, sir," reported the first to arrive, breathlessly.
This fact, too, Qapela noted, and noted with significance, for it meant that by just that number of warriors was the opposing impi reduced, thus bringing it as nearly as possible upon equal terms with his own.
The impi headed straight for the cattle, and with a decision of purpose that left nothing to be desired, wedged between them and their drivers, and headed them off in another direction.
This was in a measure stilled as the leader of the impi strode to the fore.
A large Balotsi impi had been sent to intercept them.
Their trail had been discovered, and the pick of the Makalaka impi was now overhauling them fast.
They knew, what the Zulus did not know, that the Makalaka impi was waiting just on the other side of the saddle.
Yes, and nearly as bad as your account of the snow falling on Tshaka's impi and killing hundreds of his soldiers, whilst it fell nowhere else in the neighbourhood.
So we started, and we had not gone five hundred yards when we came upon the horn of an impi closing in from the river.
I am going to send an impi to look after you till you are safe beyond the reach of Rumaliza's bands.
Up to the principal open space they marched, the impiwith its prisoners in its midst, distinguishable from the unorganised crowd by its well-ordered ranks and towering head-gear.
The whole impi defiled through this, followed by its accompanying crowd, and to such grim accompaniment our two friends entered the head town of the terrible King of the Inswani.
Then the chiefs of the impi crawled to the King's feet and began to make their report, a mere matter of ceremony, for of course swift runners had already been sent on ahead to tell what had happened.
But may I not go as far with my white chief as the King's impi goeth?
Then an impi was sent to punish these women, and a great number were killed.
On this account, therefore, he was allowed to accompany the Zulu impi as far as Umsedosi.
Zulus, who would give any information as to the movements of the strong impi known to be in the immediate neighbourhood.
Mr. Crewe's farm of Redbank on the Khami river, some sixteen miles from Bulawayo, where it was believed that a large impi was camped in a very strong position.
Every preparation had been made for an early start on the Saturday morning, when late on Friday evening a report came in that there was a large impi camped on the Umguza, at the ford on the main road to Salisbury.
They had not been out long when Lieutenant Rorke, who was in command of the morning patrol, came across the impi holding an "indaba" in a kraal.
On that day, information having been received that there was an impi on the Umguza just below Government House, a small force was got together to go out and ascertain the truth of the report.
Now, however, that the impi of which I have been speaking has been driven from its position by the forces under Major-General Sir Frederick Carrington, it is not likely that the safety of the road will ever again be threatened.
We were quite ready to make a start, even to the extent of having the oxen inspanned, by the time that the escorting impi put in an appearance; and when it did I was thankful to discover that it was commanded by my friend Mapela.
And an impi would instantly be dispatched with orders to `eat up' you and yours!
As I have told my friend Baylen, the Zulu Impi has been already withdrawn, nor is there the least chance of its return.
But one morning, quite early, I was roused by a number of Zulus living in an adjoining kraal, who told me that the king had sent an Impi to eat up Usumanzi.
Suddenly, unobserved by them, there appeared a dense impi of some twenty thousand Zulus.
If I had a supply of those guns from behind my walls I might defy the impi of Lobengula, whose warriors use the assegai.
The impi waits; the slayers are beneath the walls.
Therefore, for those of us that remain we have food for three months, and before then the rains will drive the impi out.
The impi will be camped upon the other side of the hill, so we must take the road we came by.
While this talk was in progress the great impi of the Matabele was massing for the march, on the flat ground a little to the right of them.
It is reported to me that he purposes next summer to despatch an impi to wipe me and my people out, and to make my kraal black as the burnt veld.
Why then, what need was there for the indunas of the King to send so large an impi under a great general against you, when a company of lads armed with sticks would have served the turn?
Tribute, say his messengers, deliver tribute, or my impi will come and take it with your lives.
When this very Impi had been sent out by the Zulu King Dingaan, it consisted of some nine thousand men.
Then I understood; the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in all probability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers.
However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the whole Impi was pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had hidden while their ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on the side of the slope.
Three months afterwards I heard that the whole community had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos.
The Zulu Impi never saw them, and on the third day of travel they came to the fortified place of a Griqua chief, who sheltered them on receiving half the cattle in payment.
And so through the glamour thrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi's will, that Zulu Impi seemed to see me transfixed with an assegai which never touched me.
Suddenly a shout announced that they had found the spoor of the cattle, and the whole Impi of them started down it at a run till they vanished over a rise about a quarter of a mile away.
The impi that had been occupying the Intombe valley was withdrawn into Zululand, and it was clear that a concentration of forces was about to take place at Ulundi.
He had been killed by order of the chief, and the impi had been `doctored' with his blood.
The ridge was well between them and the impi now, but the latter might at any moment appear over it, or where it ended farther down.
The impi beneath was on the march, and they could trace its course, pouring upward through grass and bushes towards the doomed kraal.
They might run into an impi at any moment, travelling swiftly across country to take up its position for attack or observation.
The impi had formed up, and, raising a mighty song of victory was moving away from the scene of the mock massacre.
They fought in the ranks of the ibuto called Ngobamakosi what time the impi of the Great Great One was defeated kwa Nodvengu.
The impi was marching down the valley in a direction which should take it rather away from the camp than towards it.
The impi had thrown out `horns' so that the terrified animals, beset by a leaping, yelling crowd on either side, had no option other than to rush blindly ahead.
A burst of voices on the right front, and then the impi appeared, pouring over the ridge, forming a dense black line between them and the camp and, of course the horses.
In 1888 an impi raided the Barotsi and killed the chief Sikabenga and most of his tribe.
They told me that in 1890 a big impi of Matabele had annihilated the Mashunas that formerly lived there, and they themselves, even in their aerial fastnesses, lived in constant dread of attack.
Should a large impi come down to attack us, we shall simply abandon our waggons and retire on the main body, which is now coming on, on the road we have made.
But Sikabenga himself did not long survive in this land of battle, murder, and sudden death, for a Matabele impi crossed the Zambesi in August, 1889, and killed him and most of his people.
Marching quickly, the impi drew near and the defenders could see that it numbered about four thousand spears and was composed of two separate regiments.
Four moons was thatimpi gone, while I awaited its return, eating out my heart with impatience.
Yes, and a Zulu impi as I think, Baas, but more than one whole day ago," and Gaasha began to hunt about amongst some low bushes which grew near the trail.
Yes, of that impi there is an end," answered Sihamba proudly, "if these children of mine will but take heart and fight as their fathers fought.
So our heart is heavy and our head is in the dust, and when we saw your impi we thought that Dingaan, who now rules over the Zulus, had sent it to eat us up and to take the cattle that still remain to us.
All that afternoon we travelled almost in silence, following the spoor of the impi backwards, for our hearts were full of fear.
Indeed, he was dying; yet never since he was a colt did the schimmel cover two miles of plain so fast as those that lay between the impi and the camp.
Yes, I can do this, if only Wambe's people know not that the impi comes, for if they know, then they can block the way.
Nala's impi was at its work, and still the spears and plumes appeared for a moment against the brown background of the mountain, and then sprang down and rushed like a storm upon the foe.
Then on the night of the third day's journey, let Maiwa lead the impi in silence up the secret path, so that it comes to the crest of the mountain that is above the strong place, and here let it hide among the rocks.
As we emerged, footsore and weary, on to this inhospitable plain, some of the men looking round caught sight of the spears of Wambe's impi advancing rapidly not more than a mile behind us.
Look at the mountain,' they cried; 'there is an impi on the mountain side.
Then of course he guessed that I had to do with your seizing the koppie and holding it while the impi rushed the place from the mountain, so he determined to torture me to death before help could come.
This being done, at the dawn of day the impi on the mountain behind the town must light a fire and put wet grass on it, so that the smoke goes up.
And canst thou guide an impi thereon so that it shall fall upon the town from behind?
But I knew that if the impi was driven back a second time the game would be played, and for me at any rate it would be a case of the 'Thing that bites,' and this sure and certain knowledge filled my breast with valour.
As for ourselves, the appearance of Nala's impi produced a wonderful change for the better in our position.
So soon as we heard the Butiana impi begin to charge again, we were to run out in a line to the brow of the hogback and pour our fire into the mass of defenders behind the wall.
The impiwent to the house of a man named Blachland, a trader and hunter residing near the head waters of the Umnyati river.
It appears that the induna in charge of the impi was well known to the sick man, and while he entered the house and engaged the latter in conversation, his followers amused themselves by ransacking the out-premises.
For a few moments the scattered companies held the impi back, and the black stream flowed round them, then it flowed over them, sweeping them along like human wreckage.
That night the impi slept upon its spears and watched in silence, lighting no fires.
Abandoning its silence and slow advance, the breast of the impi raised the war-cry and charged, rolling down upon the red coats like a wave of steel.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "impi" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
