eight o'clock in the morning
There was but little water here , but the men carried theirs in skins . The horses of the 19th Hussars received a bucketful apiece , which exhausted the supply of the wells . At six o'clock in the morning they again advanced , and after a rest of three hours at mid-day continued their way until midnight , when a light being seen at a distance the column was halted , and the Hussars went out and captured a caravan loaded with dates for the use of the Mahdi troops . It was not until eight o'clock in the morning that the weary troops and animals reached the wells of Gakdul . `` Where on earth are the wells ? '' Skinner said to the officer who was riding next to him ; and a similar question was asked by scores of others . They had advanced through a narrow pass , and were now in a small flat surrounded apparently on all sides by hills .