about ten o'clock
Once they came into the open , Royson counted on the superior shooting of his six sailors -- all marksmen of the Royal Navy -- to turn the scale unmistakably in his favor , while his Arabs had the confidence of knowing that each mile they gained in the retreat brought them nearer the powerful caravan in the rear . The scheme was excellent in every way . Under ordinary conditions it would have achieved success , but the sane mind can never take into reckoning the vagaries of the insane , and it is quite certain that Alfieri , worn alike by hardship and long brooding over his wrongs , either went stark staring mad at the spectacle of relief being forthcoming for those whom he believed to be entrapped , or gave instant rein to the frenzy already consuming him . At a moment , then , when it was suicidal to attempt an attack which his men had refused to carry out under the much less dangerous conditions that prevailed all day -- it was ascertained afterwards that the first shower of bullets fell into the startled camp about ten o'clock that morning -- at that moment , Alfieri , screaming curses in Italian and Arabic , called on those nearest to follow him , and rode out from the shelter of one of the small hills . In sheer excitement , a few Hadendowas obeyed his wild command . They had not far to go , but the rocky water-course barred the track and they must cross it slowly . Now , above all else , was the time for the sorely-tried little band under von Kerber to stand fast .