noon
`` Good words ! '' grunted Umslopogaas . Then he saluted the dead by raising _ Inkosikaas _ and came to me to consult about our journey . After all we did not get away much before noon , because first there was a great deal to be done . To begin with the loads had to be arranged . These consisted largely of ammunition , everything else being cut down to an irreducible minimum . To carry them we took two donkeys there were on the place , also half a dozen pack oxen , all of which animals were supposed to be `` salted '' -- that is , to have suffered and recovered from every kind of sickness , including the bite of the deadly tsetse fly .