noon
Had he the power to make good his word ? The hot morning hours dragged slowly by , and still no sign of attack . The village was a deserted place , in its brooding , death-like silence , so still , so complete as to render distinctly audible the sweep of the wings of carrion birds circling aloft . The severed heads grinned hideously from the stockade , and the unearthly molten stillness of the silent noon was such as to get upon the nerves of the ordinary watcher . But he who now stood there had no nerves -- not in a matter of this kind . His experiences had been such as to kill and crush them out of all being . Ha !