midnight
Their duty , it will be remembered , was to cross the valley , separate themselves into small parties , unbar the various cattle kraals , kill or hunt off the herdsmen , and drive the beasts back across the valley into the pass . A second fifty men , under the command of Saduko , were to be left just at the end of this pass where it opened out into the valley , in order to help and reinforce the cattle-lifters , or , if need be , to check the following Amakoba while the great herds of beasts were got away , and then fall back on the rest of us in our ambush nearly two miles distant . The management of this ambush was to be my charge -- a heavy one indeed . Now , the moon would not be up till midnight . But two hours before that time we began our moves , since the cattle must be driven out of the kraals as soon as she appeared and gave the needful light . Otherwise the fight in the pass would in all probability be delayed till after sunrise , when the Amakoba would see how small was the number of their foes . Terror , doubt , darkness -- these must be our allies if our desperate venture was to succeed .