Chapter 11
Fifteen shadows crawled across the sandy floor in the total darkness that preceded the dawn. They carried their weapons and other metallic objects on top of them to prevent them from rubbing against stones on the ground and producing noises that could alert the besieged enemies of their presence. The advance was necessarily slow but they were not in a hurry because they could not attack in the depths of the night at the risk of hurting their own companions with friendly fire. The men communicated with each other by very slight whistles that barely traveled about 3 or 4 meters before becoming extinct. They were advancing on a wide front that completely surrounded the cliff and their progress was coordinated so that everyone was at the same distance of all others at each moment.
