six o'clock
In short , all the activities of Eastern city life were being carried on as energetically as if the place were in perfect security , though the only bulwark that preserved it , hour by hour , from being swept by the innumerable hordes of Soudan savagery , consisted of a few hundreds of British and Egyptian soldiers ! Arrived at the Sphinx Fort , the friends found that the news was only too true . The stolen cattle belonged to the people of Suakim . Every morning at six o'clock it was the custom of the shepherds to go out with their herds and flocks to graze , there being no forage in or near the town . All had to be back by sunset , when the gates were locked , and no one was allowed out or in till six the next morning . The women , who carried all the water used in the waterless town , had of course to conform to the same rule . Like most men who are constantly exposed to danger , the shepherds became careless or foolhardy , and wandered rather far with their herds .