CHAP. V.] 
THE LATOOKA WAR SIGNAL. 
231 
it was plain that we were all occupied by the same 
thoughts, and that an attack was expected. 
It was about 9 o’clock, and the stillness had become 
almost painful. There was no cry of a bird ; not even 
the howl of a hyena : the camels were sleeping; but 
every man was wide awake, and the sentries well on 
the alert. We were almost listening at the super¬ 
natural stillness, if I may so describe the perfect calm, 
when, suddenly, every one startled at the deep and 
solemn boom of the great war-drum, or nogara! Three 
distinct beats, at slow intervals, rang through the 
apparently deserted town, and echoed loudly from the 
neighbouring mountain. It was the signal! A few 
minutes elapsed, and like a distant echo from the 
north the three mournful tones again distinctly 
sounded. Was it an echo ? Impossible. Now from 
the south, far distant, but unmistakeable, the same 
three regular beats came booming through the still 
night air. Again and again, from every quarter, 
spreading far and wide, the signal was responded ; 
and the whole country echoed those three solemn 
notes so full of warning. Once more the great nogara 
of Tarrangolle sounded the original alarm within a 
few hundred paces of our quarters. The whole country 
was wo. 
JL 
There was no doubt about the matter. The Turks 
