ot do for the defenders to be too low behind
the hedge, and a small watch-tower commenced in the centre of the
square. Some quaint, distorted trees were found at a little distance,
and from one of these enough timber was got for the erection
contemplated. There was a flat rock which formed a foundation for it,
and a rustic-looking affair, something like a summer-house, was raised
some twelve feet from the rock it stood on, which was already six feet
from the level plain. From this elevation an extensive view could be
obtained.

On the third day a balcony was made round the top of the watch-tower,
the sides of which were composed of logs, which it was reckoned would be
bulletproof. A few good marksmen might, without being exposed, do
considerable execution from this. It also had a roof fixed over it, and
the look-out man had thus a protection from the sun. The saddles, with
all cases and packages, were arranged to form an inner court of the
zereba, within which were the camels, and when they were lying down they
were very well protected. Hump, who of course had followed his company,
took great interest in all these proceedings, and when the men were at
work he stood with his head on one side watching them critically, and
from the expression of his face, and the vibration of his tail, it was
gathered that on the whole he approved. Captain Reece, who commanded
the company, did not, as a matter of fact, much expect an attack, but he
thought it only right to be prepared in case one were made, and being a
man of an ingenious turn of mind, who, when a boy at Harton, was known
as the "Dodger," he felt a special delight in constructing devices. On
being ordered off on his present duty, he had gone to a friend in the
Royal Engineers and begged a good bit of gun-cotton, carried for
blasting purposes, and with this he proposed to make a mine, an electric
battery and a coil of wire forming part of his baggage. There was a
group of boulders two hundred yards off, which was certain to be taken
advantage of by an enemy, since it formed a perfectly safe redoubt from
which to fire on the zereba, or to shelter a group forming the forlorn
hope of an attack. This Reece fixed upon as the most favourable spot
for his mine, and here the gun-cotton was placed in the position he
deemed most adapted for a favourable explosion, and connected by a wire,
which there was no great delay or difficulty in concealing in the sandy
soil with the