midnight
These were carried by brown bare-footed boys , who ran lightly up and down the streets , calling softly : `` Corn and tears and wine for the dead ! '' It was the custom for mourners to place in the hands of the dead a bottle of tears and wine , and a seed of corn , as it is written in the Proverbs of Dol : `` When thou journeyest into the Shadows , take not sweetmeats with thee , but a seed of corn and a bottle of tears and wine ; that thou mayest have a garden in the land whither thou goest . '' It was yet hardly night when the pyres were lighted on the little hills and a warm glow was thrown over all the city , made warmer by roseate-hued homes and the ruddy stones and velvety dust of the streets . At midnight the Dakoon was to be brought to the Tomb with the Blue Dome . Now in the Palace yard his body lay under a canopy , the flags of Mandakan and England over his breast , twenty of his own naked body-guard stood round , and four of his high chiefs stood at his head and four at his feet , and little lads ran softly past , crying : `` Corn and tears and wine for the dead ! '' And behind all these again were placed the dark battalions and the hillsmen . It went abroad through the city that Pango Dooni and Cumner paid great homage to the dead Dakoon , and the dread of the hillsmen grew less .