The red rim of the sun was pushing itself now above the distant sea, and the whole coast-line stood out brilliantly yellow against the rich deep blue beyond.  At one spot lay a huddle of white-walled houses, a mere splotch in the distance; while four tiny cock-boats, which lay beyond, marked the position of three of Her Majesty’s 10,000-ton troopers and the admiral’s flagship.  But it was not upon the distant town, nor upon the great vessels, nor yet upon the sinister white litter which gleamed in the plain beneath them, that the Arab chieftains gazed.  Two miles from where they stood, amid the sand-hills and the mimosa scrub, a great parallelogram had been marked by piled-up bushes.  From the inside of this dozens of tiny blue smoke-reeks curled up into the still morning air; while there rose from it 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.