452 A MILITARY MANOEUVRE. 



course of the hour so occupied, by forming a 

 junction of two separate bodies. The men of the 

 more distant Kafilahs having squatted down on a 

 commanding eminence, nearly one hundred yards 

 upon our left, Ohmed Medina, who acted as com- 

 mander, directed us to join them. In this move- 

 ment I was taken quite by surprise, a low murmur 

 along the line being suddenly followed by everybody 

 springing to his feet, I, of course, not being long in 

 following their example. For the next few moments 

 I was nearly carried off my legs by the sideway 

 movement of the whole body. Shoulders were 

 kept closely pressed together, and in this manner I 

 was wedged in between two or three of them, and 

 was carried along until, like a flock of crows, we 

 all settled down again upon the right of the party 

 towards which we had moved. Whilst this was 

 being performed, a loud whirring noise was made 

 by each individual, as if the tongue were rolled 

 rapidly in the mouth during a long expiration. 

 What its object was, or what it meant, I could 

 never learn. It was, perhaps, merely a common 

 custom for purposes of excitement, serving, like 

 the long roll of a drum, to keep up a noise when 

 silence is not calculated to raise and elevate the 

 spirits. 



A long conversation followed the breaking up of 

 this martial display. Groups of individuals col- 

 lected to discuss the probability of future attacks ; 

 and it was long after the usual hour of rest ere 



