which was
expected had certainly not yet begun. But expectation of a fight
excites men, and if at a distance they itch to be in it, this feeling
even actuating men who fail to show any particular heroism when the
pinch comes.

However, wishing or not wishing to be attacked could make no difference;
the Arabs were not likely to consult their feelings on the subject.
There was no alarm that night, and all but the men on duty slept soundly
by the bivouac fires. In the course of the next morning the camels were
to be taken to the outside well to be watered, and a few impediments
which blocked the gap being removed they began to move out. The leader
had gone twenty paces, and three others were following, when Grant, one
of the lieutenants who was in the gallery of the look-out with a field-
glass, shouted, "Halt! Come back!"

The man with the leading camel looked round to see if the order applied
to him, and saw the lieutenant beckoning to him. "Come back at once!"
he repeated. The four camels went to the right-about not a bit too
soon; for a puff of smoke spurted up from a mimosa bush beyond, and the
vicious whiz of a bullet hinted to the leader of the camel nearest to it
that it would be better for him not to stop to wind up his watch or pare
his nails before he got under shelter.

Pop, pop, pop, pop! A camel is a big mark, and it was clever to miss
the lot. One indeed had a lock of hair chipped off him, as if the
marksman were an artist who wanted a painting brush; but that was the
nearest approach to a casualty.

The other bullets went high over everything, save one or two, which
struck the sand and sent little stones flying about in a dangerous
manner. But they came in contact with nothing vulnerable, and the four
were back in the enclosure presently.

Macintosh, Cleary, and two other men, the crack shots of the company,
were ordered up into the balcony to try if they could show the attacking
party that they could make a better use of their weapons than they
could. Captain Reece was now up there, and the bullets were whizzing
about and thudding into the logs in a nerve-shaking manner.

"Crouch down, men, till they are a bit tired of wasting their
cartridges," said the captain, standing erect himself, however; "you
could not get a fair shot yet for the smoke."

When they had done so, he sat on a block of wood himself, and was then
protected by the balcony. The two lieutenants and the non-commissioned