midday
If the body has not already been thrown into the dungeon , charge him to take no action until he receives my orders . Go quickly . '' He put a roughing-chisel into the fold of his girdle and opened the principal door which gave upon the deserted avenue of the Dromos . Suddenly he halted on the threshold , stupefied by the immense midday light of Africa . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- The street was certainly white and the houses white too , but the flame of the perpendicular sunbeams bathed the gleaming surfaces with such a fury of reflections that the limestone walls and the pavements danced with prodigious incandescence in dark blue , red , green , raw ochre , and hyacinth . Great palpitating pillars of colour seemed to hang in the air and to be superimposed in transparent masses over the shimmering , flaming facades . The very lines of the houses lost their shape behind this dazzling magnificence ; the right wall of the street rounded off dimly into space , floated like a piece of drapery , and in certain places became invisible .