Some time after midnight, after finishing our customary task in laying out our collections of the day, which had been much smaller than usual, we sallied out to view the surrounding scene. The moon stood high in the cloudless sky, wherein there was so little vapour that the stars seemed scarcely dimmed by her brilliancy. The great tower, stark against the black vault, appeared gigantic in its proportions as it looked down on the strange scene below. The noises of the city—even the howling of the dogs—were for the moment completely stilled; our camels, horses, mules, and asses lay resting after their day’s work, and amongst them the sleeping figures of our men, wrapped up in white _haïks_ or _jellabias_, looked weird and ghostly in the moonlight. The distinctness with which we heard the occasional whispers of the guards around our camp served only to make the deep silence of the night the more impressive. On this night the advantages of a tent of what is known as the Alpine Club pattern, where the floor is made of canvas continuous with the sides, and the entrance is closed by a flap rising about a foot from the ground, were shown in a striking way. In the great tent, where the ground underfoot was pierced with scorpion holes and swarming with insects, Hooker and Maw did not venture to undress, and had to pass the night perched upon the baggage, while Ball was able to spread his mattress regardless of the creatures that might be moving about under the canvas floor. When his tent was struck next morning the ground underneath was absolutely covered with a continuous mass of creeping things, yet not a single insect entered the tent. When we all rose betimes on the morning of the 4th, we felt that this must be a decisive day in our contest with the Moorish authorities. At an early hour Hooker despatched two messengers, one to the Viceroy, requesting an interview, the other to Mr. Hunot, begging him to use his local knowledge and influence to make sure that the request should reach the Viceroy. Soon after arrived a message from Ben Daoud, saying that we were at liberty to pitch our tents in an adjoining garden. If that offer had been made on our first arrival, it is most likely that it would have been accepted; but, as it was now clear that Ben Daoud was intent on yielding as little as possible, Hooker wisely resolved to insist on the demand which he had made on the previous evening, and returned an answer in nearly the same terms as before.