Now the guides turned to the left and after them in a long line came my army of thirty thousand archers.
In utter silence we went since we had no beasts with us and our sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had been passed down the line that the man who made a sound should die.
For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and climbed a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town of Amada.

Here suddenly the guides halted and we after them at whispered words of command.

One of them took me by the cloak, led me forward a little way to the crest of the ridge, and pointed with his white-sleeved arm.

I looked and there beneath me, well within bowshot, were thousands of the watchfires of the King's army, flaring, some of them, in the strong wind.

For a full league those fires burned and we were opposite to the midmost of them.
"See now, General Shabaka," said the guide, speaking for the first time in a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who had no lips, "beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so great, has not thought it needful to guard this ridge.