midday
he muttered . `` I must have been ; '' and he stared wildly around . There was a great shadow there , and now the sun is beating down upon that little gully and lighting up the flashing waters of the fall . `` Why , I must have been sleeping for hours , and it must be quite midday . '' His eyes now sought the positions of the different vedettes , and all was so brilliant and clear that he saw where the men had stood up their muskets against bush or tree , noted the flash from bayonets and the duller gleam from musket-barrels . In one case , too , the men were sheltering themselves beneath a tree , and this sent an additional pang of suffering through the lad , as he felt for the first time that the sun was playing with burning force upon his neck . `` It 's of no use , '' he said .