noon
Now he shrank from looking ahead . He dreaded to lift his eyes to the interminable desolation stretching before him . The minutes seemed hours long ; time was protracted as though he had been eating hasheesh . He felt as if he had ridden for a week , before his horse 's shadow told him that noon had come . The jar of his horse hurt him , and it all seemed unreal at times , like a torturing nightmare from which he must soon awake . He rode long distances with closed eyes as the day wore on . The world , red and wavering , swung around him , and he gripped his saddle-horn hard .