midday
And what luck to have a side wind instead of a forward one ! '' At twelve they stayed in a welcome piece of shade for their first veldt meal . Lounge-chairs were untied for them to rest in , and an excellent little repast prepared by the cook-boy , while the small black imp waited upon them like a trained butler . Then they dozed through the hot midday hours , continuing their journey to those alluring blue distances after all were rested , until they reached the first night 's camping place and pitched their tents near a rippling river -- as Diana described it , `` all mixed up with stars , and dreams , and niggers , and kopjes , and mules . '' For a week they journeyed on , each day seeming lovelier than the last , and the dreaming repose of a great content hovered over all of them . There was no need for haste and none was made . There was no pitiless urging of tired mules as in the post-cart ; no shouting natives , no hurried pauses for a snatched rest .