ncertain what their tactics ought to be. It was no wonder
that they were puzzled, for upon their spent camels their situation was
as hopeless as could be conceived. The Sarras men had all emerged from
the khor, and had dismounted, the beasts being held in groups of four,
while the riflemen knelt in a long line with a woolly, curling fringe
of smoke, sending volley after volley at the Arabs, who shot back in a
desultory fashion from the backs of their camels. But it was not upon
the sullen group of Dervishes, nor yet upon the long line of kneeling
riflemen, that the eyes of the spectators were fixed. Far out upon the
desert, three squadrons of the Haifa Camel Corps were coming up in
a dense close column, which wheeled beautifully into a widespread
semicircle as it approached. The Arabs were caught between two fires.

[Illustration: Arabs were caught between two fires p261]

"By Jove!" cried the Colonel. "See that!"

The camels of the Dervishes had all knelt down simultaneously, and the
men had sprung from their backs. In front of them was a tall, stately
figure, who could only be the Emir Wad Ibrahim. They saw him kneel for
an instant in prayer. Then he rose, and taking something from his saddle
he placed it very deliberately upon the sand and stood upon it.

"Good man!" cried the Colonel. "He is standing upon his sheepskin."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Stuart.

"Every Arab has a sheepskin upon his saddle. When he recognises that his
position is perfectly hopeless, and yet is determined to fight to the
death, he takes his sheepskin off and stands upon it until he dies.
See, they are all upon their sheepskins. They will neither give nor take
quarter now."

The drama beneath them was rapidly approaching its climax. The Haifa
Corps was well up, and a ring of smoke and flame surrounded the clump
of kneeling Dervishes, who answered it as best they could. Many of them
were already down, but the rest loaded and fired with the unflinching
courage which has always made them worthy antagonists. A dozen
kharki-dressed figures upon the sand showed that it was no bloodless
victory for the Egyptians. But now there was a stirring bugle-call from
the Sarras men, and another answered it from the Haifa Corps. Their
camels were down also, and the men had formed up into a single long
curved line. One last volley and they were charging inwards with the
wild inspiriting yell which the blacks had brought with them from their
cent