noon
It required all the consciousness of great duties , all the inspiration of a great purpose , to sustain Tancred under this sudden separation from Eva . Much he regretted that it was not also his lot to traverse the Syrian wilderness , but it was not for him to interfere with arrangements which he could neither control nor comprehend . All that passed amid the ruins of this desert city was as incoherent and restless as the incidents of a dream ; yet not without the bright passages of strange fascination which form part of the mosaic of our slumbering reveries . At dawn a prisoner , at noon a free man , yet still , from his position , unable to move without succour , and without guides ; why he was captured , how he was enfranchised , alike mysteries ; Tancred yielded without a struggle to the management of that individual who was clearly master of the situation . Fakredeen decided upon everything , and no one was inclined to impugn the decrees of him whose rule commenced by conferring freedom . It was only half an hour to sunset . The advanced guard of the children of Rechab , mounted on their dromedaries , and armed with lances , had some hours ago quitted the ruins .