eight
o'clock
Their place was to be in the rear of the square , but two squadrons were to move in extended order as scouts a mile in front of it and on both flanks . Their orders were that if attacked they were not to charge the enemy , but to open right and left and to retire at once and rejoin the main body in the rear of the square , so as to allow a clear space for the sweep of the infantry fire . The infantry were to fire only in volleys on word of command , and were not to open fire until within three hundred yards of the enemy . Moving out from the camp the force was halted on open ground and a brief inspection made to see that all was in order , and soon after eight o'clock the advance began in earnest . As soon as they moved forward the enemy could be seen retiring , evidently bent upon pursuing the same tactics that they had done upon the occasion of the advance of Baker Pasha 's force from the same halting-place a month before . The officers with their glasses could make them out swarming along a slight ridge of ground in the neighbourhood of the wells ; their flags extended along a front a mile in length , and guns could be made out in position . As the column advanced the enemy cleared off from the rising ground , but whether they had retired behind the ridge , and were there waiting in readiness to pour out to the attack , or whether they were moving round to fall upon the flank of the column , was uncertain .