noon
His last thought , as he quitted the red glare of the camp-fires , was that Irene might have snatched a few minutes from her rest to bid him farewell . But she was nowhere to be seen , so after a final hand-shake with Stump , he rode away into the night . The march Royson had undertaken was a trying one . The desert runs to extremes , and , at that season , the thermometer varied a hundred degrees between noon and midnight . When the sun dipped behind the hills , a tense darkness fell on the land . This impenetrable pall is peculiar to Egypt ; probably it suggested to Moses that ninth plague wherewith he afflicted the subjects of a stubborn Pharaoh . Though this `` darkness that may be felt '' yields , as a rule , to the brilliancy of the stars after half an hour 's duration , while it lasts a lighted match can not be seen beyond a distance of ten or twelve feet .