“Hah! I thought the visit would not be long deferred,” said Colonel Wrayford, lowering the glass and pointing to a thin line of white figures slowly coming into sight and winding down a zigzag path on one side of the gorge, through which the river came down from the mountains beyond.
“I see,” said Colonel Graves; “but I was watching those ravines to right and left.”
“Yes; the enemy is changing his tactics to-day. You see, he does not mean us to have much rest.”
The bugles rang out at the first appearance of the enemy, and the walls were manned with a strength to which they had been foreign; and as the two Colonels walked round and supervised the arrangements, the senior asked whether the new-comers could shoot.
“Admirably,” said Colonel Graves, and then, with a smile—“at the target; they have to prove what they can really do now.”
“They will have every opportunity, and from behind strong walls.”
Meanwhile the white-robed enemy came streaming down to the plain in the most fearless manner, till they were well within shot, and still they came on.
“This seems strange,” said Colonel Wrayford; “they have generally begun firing before this.”
“They look more like friends than enemies,” observed Colonel Graves.
“They may look so,” replied the other as he scanned the advancing force, “but we have no friends among these tribes. They are all deeply imbued with the Mussulman’s deadly hatred of the Christian, and only when firmly held down by force do they submit to the stronger power. Unfortunately they have broken out, and we have had enough to do to hold our own, while the very fact of one tribe boldly shutting us in has made half-a-dozen others forget their own enmity among themselves and come to their aid.”