two hours after noon
The whole structure of his pride caved in on him . He , the Sheykh of the Dragomans , the respectable of respectables , made so by especial favour of the Blessed Virgin , to hear such words from one of those very English whose esteem upheld him ! He soiled his face with mud and camel 's dung and sat in his house , lamenting , refusing every comfort that his wife or the sympathising neighbours could devise to offer . Some two hours after noon there came a storm with terrifying flashes . The thunder shook the house , the solid earth . At one moment the gnarled and twisted branches of the fig-tree were seen black against a sharp illumination , the next smoke-grey and weird amid the inky gloom . They seemed like snakes approaching stealthily , and then like loathsome arms intent to seize his soul .