midday
Fadrique 's condition especially made this rest necessary . He had never left the desert during the whole time , gaining his subsistence by fighting with wandering Arabs , and often almost exhausted by the utter want of all food and drink . At length he had become so thoroughly confused that the stars could no longer guide him , and he had been driven about , sadly and objectless , like the dust clouds of the desert . Even now , at times , when he would fall asleep after the midday meal , and Antonia and Heimbert would watch his slumbers like two smiling angels , he would suddenly start up and gaze round him with a terrified air , and then it was not till he had refreshed himself by looking at the two friendly faces that he would sink back again into quiet repose . When questioned on the matter , after he was fully awake , he told them that in his wanderings nothing had been more terrible to him than the deluding dreams which had transported him , sometimes to his own home , sometimes to the merry camp of his comrades , and sometimes into Zelinda 's presence , and then leaving him doubly helpless and miserable in the horrible solitude as the delusion vanished . It was on this account that even now waking was fearful to him , and even in sleep a vague consciousness of his past sufferings would often disturb him . `` You can not imagine it , '' he added .