about noon
That day and on several others one hundred and thirty degrees was reached , and even that temperature was exceeded now and then over sandhills and plains which quivered in the heat . But the boys would not have minded the heat if the flies had only left them alone . Long before dawn , before even the morning star had risen , flies buzzed around them , making life well-nigh unbearable . A halt was made about noon for dinner , the packs and saddles taken off the horses for an hour , and then the journey was resumed , each man riding a fresh horse , for no one rides the same horse all day in Central Australia , if he can possibly help it . Evening camp was usually made near a water-hole or native well , but sometimes the horses had to go as long as two days without a drink . They were unsaddled and hobbled out , and allowed to roam about all night and pick up scanty bits of food . It amazed the white boys to see what very little herbage of any kind there was for an animal to live on .