Now,
above all else, was the time for the sorely-tried little band under von
Kerber to stand fast. They could have shot at their leisure Alfieri and
each man of the half dozen who came with him. Already three groups of
yelling men were stirring the dust into life as they scampered to the
rescue across the comparatively level floor of the basin. In five
minutes, or less, the Hadendowa attack would be rolled back into the
hills, and neither friend nor foe had any other thought than that the
whole of Mr. Fenshawe's _kafila_ was pouring its irresistible power
into the fray.
The situation was precisely one of the suddenly-arising and acute
crises in warfare which accentuate the difference between races. While
von Kerber, and Mrs. Haxton, too, for that matter, saw the urgent need
of prolonging the desperate strife for just those few minutes, their
Arabs, after fighting coolly and bravely throughout an exhausting day,
now quite lost their heads. Heedless of the Austrian's prayers and
imprecations, heedless of Mrs.
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