four o'clock
The camels were quickly unloaded , and the men set to work to prepare breakfast , having had nothing to eat since the meal they had taken the previous morning under fire in the zareba . During the day the dead were buried , the arms left by the natives collected and destroyed , and a stone inclosure commenced near the wells , for here the wounded were to remain under the protection of a small force of the Sussex . Both Edgar and the sergeant protested that they were perfectly capable of continuing the march , and were permitted to take their place in the ranks again . At four o'clock the force formed up , and half an hour later set out . It was given out that the march would be a short one and they would presently halt for the night , but as the hours went on it became evident that the general had determined to keep straight on for the river , a distance of twenty-six miles from the wells . It was known that there was a considerable force of the enemy at Metemmeh , and as this would be augmented by the addition of the thousands of Arabs who had been engaged on the previous day , it was probable that , were the enemy aware of the advance of the force , a battle even more serious and desperate than the first would have to be fought before reaching the Nile . The object of the night march , then , was to reach the river before they were aware that the column had started from the wells .