Dick counted the cones. There were seven, of them. Though fully a mile
and a half distant, he could see Mrs. Haxton sitting between two huge
boulders. Von Kerber was near her, and the few Arabs with them were
scattered among the rocks in positions whence they could return the
incessant fusillade poured on them from the hills. Their camels were
huddled in a hollow between the two westerly mounds, and, so far as
Royson could judge, the little party had not yet sustained many
casualties. But the tactics of their assailants were quite obvious. The
Hadendowas, silently and unseen, had occupied the higher ground on the
north, east, and south. They had probably stampeded the unsuspecting
_kafila_ from the open oasis, because a couple of tents and some camp
equipage still stood there, and it was their intent to creep nearer,
pushing the horns of an ever-closing crescent steadily westward, until
a junction effected just before sunset would permit of a successful
rush. Indeed, all doubt on this point was dispelled by the discovery of
two strong companies of Hadendowas gathering on the reverse slopes of
the nearest hills.
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