For about two hours everybody remained in position, perfectly still. As silent were they as their sleeping foes. The fires died out gradually, one by one. The time was one of the greatest anxiety for the commanding officer, as he did not know but that the whole of his remarkably elusive foe had slipped through the neck immediately in rear of their bivouac, which neck, owing to the nature of the country, it was impossible to completely block in rear without disclosing the presence of a hostile force. Owing to a heavy mist that arose towards dawn, making it difficult to discern objects at a distance of 200 yards, daylight was longer than usual in coming. After watching for a long time through field-glasses, the mist cleared slightly, when Barker saw something resembling the outline of a burnt kraal where he had hoped to set eyes on the enemy himself. Suddenly remembering no burnt kraal existed on that particular spot a few days previously, he looked again, when he became convinced that what he beheld was nothing else but the enemy himself, drawn up in a circle--the inevitable circle in which orders are given as to engaging an enemy. Barker, moreover, saw enough to convince him that he had himself by then been seen. The preconcerted signal was fired a few seconds later, not, however, by the 15-pounders, but by the Maxim under Lieut. R.G. Forbes, on the opposite or eastern side. What occurred at that point was this: D squadron under Capt. H. McKay, lay on Forbes's immediate right. Forbes's orders were not to fire without consulting McKay, and fire was on no account to be opened unless found to be absolutely imperative, viz. to prevent actual escape of the enemy up the gorge. If, however, it started in any other quarter, the Maxim was, of course, to do likewise. Just as it began to get light, the time being about 6.50 a.m., Forbes and McKay, using a good pair of field-glasses, 400 yards closer to the enemy than Barker, could see the rebels getting up and forming themselves into companies. It appeared as if they were about to move up the Mome and towards the redoubtable stronghold. McKay declined to give the order to fire until, after closer examination, he agreed that, by not opening, the first company, then obviously on the move, must be lost. "All right, have a go," he cried, whereupon the Maxim blazed forth at a range which, as it turned out, had been correctly fixed at 600 yards.