Each hundred men in the Greek camp--that is to say, twenty-five of these groups of four--were under the orders of a captain, who in turn was under the direction of Petrobey, and in all about two thousand men lined the walls. Of the remainder, fifty were employed in distributing ammunition, and were in readiness to bring fresh supplies to the defenders; a hundred more were ready to take the place of any who might be killed at their posts; and the rest, some eight hundred men, were standing under arms on the small parade-ground in the centre of the camp, under command of Nicholas. They would not, however, according to the scheme he and Petrobey had devised, be required just yet, and he told them to pile arms and fall out, but not to leave the ground so that they could not be recalled in a moment if wanted. Mitsos was in attendance on Nicholas, and Yanni stood by Petrobey ready to take his orders to any part of the camp.
An hour elapsed before the Albanian infantry appeared above the ridge some five hundred yards off, and still in the Greek camp there was perfect silence. Then, opening out, they advanced at a double, intending evidently to try to storm the place. But they had clearly not known how completely it had been fortified, and while they were still about four hundred yards off they halted at a word of command and sheltered among the big bowlders that strewed the hill-side. Still, in the Greek camp there was no sound or movement, only Yanni ran across to Nicholas with the order "Be ready," and he called his men up and they stood in line with their arms. Then a word was shouted by the commander of the advancing troop, and Petrobey saw the Albanians all massing behind a small spur of hill about a quarter of a mile away, where they were hidden from sight.
There was a long pause; each individual man in the camp knew that the enemy was close, that in a few minutes the shot would be singing, but in the mean time they could not see any one. Two miles away on the plain stood the glittering mailed insects, the Turkish cavalry; and six miles off, a mere black speck, was the troop which had gone across to the east. The suspense was almost unbearable; every nerve was stretched to its highest tension, and every man exhibited his nervous discomfort in his own peculiar way. Christos, who was stationed at one of the loop-holes straight towards the enemy, merely turned cold and damp and wiped the sweat off his forehead with a flabby hand, expectorating rapidly; Yanni, on the other hand, at his post by Petrobey, had a mouth as dry as sirocco, got very red in the face, and swore gently and atrociously to himself; a young recruit from Megalopolis suddenly threw back his head and laughed, and the sergeant of his company vented his own tension by cuffing him over the ears, and yet the boy laughed on; Mitsos, standing by Nicholas, whistled the "Song of the Vine-diggers" between his teeth; Father Andréa, who had begged to be allowed to serve in some way, and was a loader for the two men next Petrobey, chanted over and over again gently below his breath the first verse of the "Te Deum," last sung at Kalamata; Nicholas stood still, his hawk eyes blazing; but most were quite silent, shifting uneasily at their posts, standing now on one leg, now on the other. Petrobey, perhaps alone, for he had to think for them all, was quite calm, and his mind fully occupied. The spur behind which the Albanians were massed was almost opposite the gate over which he stood. The chances were that they would try to storm it, perhaps try to storm both the gates together, the other of which was diagonally opposite to him.