noon
he exclaimed . `` I never knew it COULD get as hot as this . '' The heat grew steadily fiercer ; all distant objects were visibly shimmering and palpitating under it . At noon a mirage appeared on the hills to the northwest . McTeague halted the mule , and drank from the tepid water in the canteen , dampening the sack around the canary 's cage . As soon as he ceased his tramp and the noise of his crunching , grinding footsteps died away , the silence , vast , illimitable , enfolded him like an immeasurable tide . From all that gigantic landscape , that colossal reach of baking sand , there arose not a single sound .