noon
Hamersley 's words , directing suspicion to the peon , Manuel , have excited them . All the more from his having entertained something of this before . And now still more , that his messenger is three days overdue from the errand on which he has sent him . At noon he and Don Prospero again ascend to the summit of the pass , and scan the table plain above -- to observe nothing upon it , either westwardly or in any other direction . And all the afternoon has one or the other been standing near the door of the jacal , with a lorgnette levelled up the ravine through which the valley is entered from above . Only as the shades of night close over them do they desist from this vigil , proving fruitless . Added to the idea of danger , they have another reason for desiring the speedy return of the messenger .