Sherroom, Who Evidently Knew Every Inch Of The Country, Whispered That We Must Wait Here In Silence, As There Were Villages Not Far Off, And The Stockade That We Were To Attack Was In The Immediate Neighbourhood.

It was nearly 5 A.M., and although we had marched since one o'clock, we were not more than nine miles from Gondokoro.

I trusted that our halt would allow the rear to join us with the gun which had caused so much delay.

We waited for about half-an-hour in perfect silence. There was not a star upon the sky, which was dark and murky, thus we could distinguish nothing. At length the black night began to grow more grey, and we could just make out some dark masses, that appeared to be villages, upon the right and left. We now marched rapidly, but without the slightest noise. The morning grew greyer, and birds began to whistle. We could distinguish trees and the tall crops of dhurra.

There was no sign of Tayib Agha and his detachment, but it was absolutely necessary to push forward.

We were thus hurrying on, sometimes through cultivated fields, at others through strips of forest, when we suddenly heard the long shrill cry that is the native signal of danger. This was from a Bari watchman, who, more awake than those by whom we must have passed unobserved, now gave the alarm. This cry was immediately repeated in various directions. There was no time to be lost.

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