noon
In an instant a conflagration of potential disasters leaped up from the spark of the immediate danger . He flew along faster , colliding with irate pedestrians , escaping the wheels of skimming automobiles ... Presently the familiar cliff and the tawny path scaling it loomed ahead . He began to climb upward , almost on all-fours , digging his finger nails into the yellow clay in an instinctive effort to pull himself forward . Finally he gained the top ... The street , somnolent with approaching noon , was deserted -- the child had disappeared . He recovered his whirling senses and looked again . This time he saw that the door of the shack stood open . He took a step forward .