noon
The gaiety of yesterday was gone ; the enchantment had vanished from the waste spaces , and the desert was less a friend now than an enemy . Chokingly the dust rose about them , and glaringly the gold of the burning sands beat back the glare of the down-pouring sun . From such a heat the landscape seemed to shrink and veiled itself with a faint and swimming haze . By noon the flask of water in Billy 's pocket was empty . By noon their mouths were parched and their skins burning . And still on their left there hung the hounding dots , like prowling jackals . Anxiously Billy looked at Arlee .