noon
Obedient to the commands of Paulus , the lad had appropriated three of his friend 's gold pieces , had provided himself with a bow and arrows and some bread , and then , after muttering a farewell to his father who was asleep in his cave , he set out for Raithu . Happy in the sense of his strength and manhood , proud of the task which had been set him and which he deemed worthy of a future soldier , and cheerfully ready to fulfil it even at the cost of his life , he hastened forward in the bright moonlight . He quitted the path at the spot where , to render the ascent possible even to the vigorous desert-travellers , it took a zigzag line , and clambered from rock to rock , up and down in a direct line ; when he came to a level spot he flew on as if pursuers were at his heels . After sunrise he refreshed himself with a morsel of food , and then hurried on again , not heeding the heat of noon , nor that of the soft sand in which his foot sank as he followed the line of the sea-coast . Thus passionately hurrying onwards he thought neither of Sirona nor of his past life -- only of the hills on the farther shore and of the Blemmyes -- how he should best surprise them , and , when he had learnt their plans , how he might recross the sea and return to his own people . At last , as he got more and more weary , as the heat of the sun grew more oppressive , and as the blood rushed more painfully to his heart and began to throb more rapidly in his temples , be lost all power of thought , and that which dwelt in his mind was no more than a dumb longing to reach his destination as soon as possible . It was the third afternoon when he saw from afar the palms of Raithu , and hurried on with revived strength .