noon
The low-growing tamarisk , wormwood , and soda-bushes afforded no shade . Wild fowl and larks were the only creatures that inhabited the waste . The herds of cattle , goats , and swine had disappeared , for Attila 's army of half a million had eaten them up , and his horses had not left a single edible blade of grass . At noon the caravan came suddenly to a halt , for on the eastern horizon there was visible a town with towers and pinnacles , on the other side of a blue lake . `` Are we there ? '' asked Edeko . `` Impossible ; it is still twenty miles , or three days ' journey . ''