noon
Just as the day before , the morning came hot and still , and for hour after hour the straggling safari crawled slowly over the long waves of the undulating veldt . The road was a wagon track always vanishing in front toward the head of the valley . The land lay silent beneath the glaring sunlight . We outspanned at noon for an hour . Over the country here grew small , scattered thorn trees , thick with thorns but with scarcely any leaves , so that the shade beneath them was thin and could shelter no more than one horse . The water in the canteens , cold at the start , had become warm now . When we mounted again , the sweat had dried on the horses , and the boots felt stiff on our feet .