about midday
They came upon a river in flood , and while the Arabs sought a ford Owen went in search of blue pigeons , and succeeded in shooting several ; and these were plucked and eaten by the camp fire that night , the coldest he had known in the Sahara . When the fire burnt down a little he awoke shivering . And he awoke shivering again at daybreak ; and the cavalcade continued its march across a plain , flat and empty , through which the river 's banks wound like a green ribbon ... . Some stunted vegetation rose in sight about midday , and Owen thought that they were near the oasis towards which they were journeying ; but on approaching he saw that what he had mistaken for an oasis was but the ruins of one that had perished last year owing to a great drought , only a few dying palms remaining . Oases die , but do new ones rise from the desert ? he wondered . A ragged chain of mountains , delightfully blue in the new spring weather , entertained him all the way across an immense tract of barren country ; and at the end of it his searching eyes were rewarded by a sight of his destination -- some palms showing above the horizon on the evening sky .