t a confused deep murmur, the voices of men
and the gruntings of camels blended into the same insect buzz.

"The unbelievers have cooked their morning food," said the Baggara
chief, shading his eyes with his tawny, sinewy hand. "Truly their sleep
has been scanty; for Hamid and a hundred of his men have fired upon them
since the rising of the moon."

"So it was with these others," answered the Sheik Kadra, pointing with
his sheathed sword towards the old battle-field. "They also had a day
of little water and a night of little rest, and the heart was gone out
of them ere ever the sons of the Prophet had looked them in the eyes.
This blade drank deep that day, and will again before the sun has
travelled from the sea to the hill."

"And yet these are other men," remarked the Berber dervish. "Well, I
know that Allah has placed them in the clutch of our fingers, yet it may
be that they with the big hats will stand firmer than the cursed men of
Egypt."

"Pray Allah that it may be so," cried the fierce Baggara, with a flash
of his black eyes. "It was not to chase women that I brought 700 men
from the river to the coast. See, my brother, already they are forming
their array."

A fanfare of bugle-calls burst from the distant camp. At the same time
the bank of bushes at one side had been thrown or trampled down, and the
little army within began to move slowly out on to the plain. Once clear
of the camp they halted, and the slant rays of the sun struck flashes
from bayonet and from gun-barrel as the ranks closed up until the big
pith helmets joined into a single long white ribbon. Two streaks of
scarlet glowed on either side of the square, but elsewhere the fringe of
fighting-men was of the dull yellow khaki tint which hardly shows
against the desert sand. Inside their array was a dense mass of camels
and mules bearing stores and ambulance needs. Outside a twinkling clump
of cavalry was drawn up on each flank, and in front a thin, scattered
line of mounted infantry was already slowly advancing over the
bush-strewn plain, halting on every eminence, and peering warily round
as men might who have to pick their steps among the bones of those who
have preceded them.

The three chieftains still lingered upon the knoll, looking down with
hungry eyes and compressed lips at the dark steel-tipped patch.
"They are slower to start than the men of Egypt," the Sheik of the
Hadendowas growled in his beard.

"Slower also to go b