midnight
Alive with the shrieking sounds of music , the movement and the murmur of desert humanity made it almost solemn . This crowd of boys and men , robed in white from head to heel , preserved a serious grace in its vivacity , suggested besides a dignified barbarity a mingling of angel , monk and nocturnal spirit . In the distance of the moonbeams , gliding slowly over the dusty road with slippered feet , there was something soft and radiant in their moving whiteness . Nearer , their pointed hoods made them monastical as a procession stealing from a range of cells to chant a midnight mass . In the shadowy dusk of the tiny side alleys they were like wandering ghosts intent on unholy errands or returning to the graveyard . On some of the balconies painted girls were leaning and smoking cigarettes . Before each of the lighted doorways from which the shrill noise of music came , small , intent crowds were gathered , watching the performance that was going on inside .