six o'clock in the
evening
Well , if you go through this gap , which is barely a mile off , you will find a very pretty place -- the wells , and sycamore trees , and dates . Just the place to spend a happy day . And if you take a bottle or two of champagne , and a _ pate de foie gras _ , I shall not mind if I make one of the party , and show you the objects of interest . '' But such a pic-nic was not destined to come off , nor was there even any opportunity given for testing the coral theory , for there was plenty of work to be done at the moment , and on the eleventh the intending pleasure-seekers started for Baker 's zereba at six o'clock in the evening . Baker Pasha 's Egyptians , though they had not proved much good at fighting , and had paid the penalty of their cowardice by undergoing a massacre which made the world thrill with horror , were very useful to the avenging force which followed so quickly on their traces . The fort they had constructed near Trinkitat had done much to help the rapid and successful advance upon Tokar ; and now the zereba they had made eight miles out from Suakim , and in the direction in which Osman Digna lay with his whole army , made a good first halting-place for the English troops . A zereba , it should be mentioned , is an enclosed space surrounded by thorn-covered bushes cut down and packed round it , with old packing-cases , or anything else which will afford cover to those inside .