midday
An involuntary smile lighted up the gloom of his features for a moment as one remarked that the chief offender , the woman 's husband , had eluded pursuit . Then he crept back into the desert and waited for the dawn . The sun rose , fiery and relentless , glittering on the waters of Aboukir , and the cloudless heaven blazed like a prairie on fire . At midday , when its rays fell straight upon him , his thirst became intense , and with feverish fingers he dug up an egg . It was empty . He tossed it away and dragged himself to another hole . The second egg was empty .