midday sun
He forgot the buffalo ; he caught himself labouring his breath , and found it necessary to elaborately explain the circumstance in his thoughts on the ground of heat . The next moment he began to plead this heat not merely as an excuse for his uneasiness , but as a reason for returning to camp . The heat was intense , he argued . Above him the light of an African midday sun poured out of a brassy sky into a sort of inverted funnel , and lay in blinding pools upon the scattered slabs of rock . Within the hollow , every cup of the innumerable flowers which tapestried the cliffs seemed a mouth breathing heat . He became possessed with a parching thirst , and he felt his tongue heavy and fibrous like a dried fig . There was , however , one obstacle which prevented him from acting upon his impulse , and that obstacle was his sense of shame .