about midnight
They had not made a hurried march from the desert city , for Stephen and Sabine had calculated the hour at which Nevill might have received the summons , and the time he would take on the return journey . It was possible , Lady MacGregor being what she was , that she might have rewired the telegram to a certain bordj , the only telegraph station between Touggourt and Oued Tolga . If she had done this , and the message had caught Nevill , many hours would be saved . Instead of getting to the bordj about midnight , tired out with a long , quick march , he might be expected before dark . Even so , Stephen would be well ahead , for , as the caravan came to the gate of the bordj , it was only six o'clock , blazing afternoon still , and hot as midday , with the fierce , golden heat of the desert towards the end of May . The big iron gates were wide open , and nothing stirred in the quadrangle inside ; but as Stephen rode in , one of the Frenchmen he remembered slouched out of a room where the wooden shutters of the window were closed for coolness . His face was red , and he yawned as he came forward , rubbing his eyes as if he had been asleep .