noon
So he had held himself keenly to the stride , rather liking its vigor after long days of walking , finding himself especially fit to meet it after his recent change of food . And although the sun had been swelteringly hot , yet the desert had been swept with counteracting breezes , and , with night finally descending , he had felt more than ever his fine mettle , and now , even though his master was painfully dismounting , he felt fit to run his legs off at the least suggestion . This fitness remained with him . When his young master turned him loose at the end of a generous tether , he stepped eagerly away from the firelight and out into the light of a rising moon , not to graze , for he felt no desire to graze , having eaten his fill and more at noon , but to give vent to his high spirits in unusual rolling in the sands . This he quickly proceeded to do , kicking and thrashing about , and holding to it long after the men about the fire had ceased to come and go in preparing their meal , long after they had seated themselves in the cheerful glow , smoking and talking as was their habit . The Professor noticed it . He looked at the man with the beard pointedly .