six o'clock
Strachan rose and went to him , asking -- `` Are you hit , my lad ? '' But there was no answer ; he was quite dead . This , however , was the only fatal effect of some four or five hours ' incessant firing , for the Arabs kept it up for the remainder of the night . At six o'clock the sun rose , and the enemy no longer had it all their own way . A nine-pounder was run up to the zereba hedge , and pointed in the direction from which the fusillade was hottest , and on another side a Gardner was brought to bear on a bit of cover where the Arabs clustered thickly . Ere the sun was quite above the horizon the loud sharp report of the former cheered the hearts of those who had been so hemmed in and pestered , and a second or so after there was a second bang as the avenging shell burst right among the bushes a thousand yards off . At the same time the ger-r-er of the machine-gun told that its handle was turning , and its deadly missiles tearing through the light cover .