noon
Sometimes at dead of night , as we watched the sick , we heard one galloping through the town ; it was the Black Spectre come in token of inevitable death . He grew giant tall to vulgar eyes ; an icy atmosphere , they said , surrounded him ; when he was heard , all animals shuddered , and the dying knew that their last hour was come . It was Death himself , they declared , come visibly to seize on subject earth , and quell at once our decreasing numbers , sole rebels to his law . One day at noon , we saw a dark mass on the road before us , and , coming up , beheld the Black Spectre fallen from his horse , lying in the agonies of disease upon the ground . He did not survive many hours ; and his last words disclosed the secret of his mysterious conduct . He was a French noble of distinction , who , from the effects of plague , had been left alone in his district ; during many months , he had wandered from town to town , from province to province , seeking some survivor for a companion , and abhorring the loneliness to which he was condemned . When he discovered our troop , fear of contagion conquered his love of society .