midday
She felt frightened for the first time ; she was alone and about her was unending space , and she felt an atom , insignificant , the least of all things . She looked up into the clear sky and the blue vastness appalled her . Then the sudden panic to which she had given way subsided and her courage rose with a bound . It was only midday , anything might happen between then and nightfall . Of one thing only she was sure , she did not repent of what she had done . Behind her was Ahmed Ben Hassan and before her was possibly death , and death was preferable . She was quite calm again and lay down in the patch of shade once more with a resolute determination to mind .