noon
Even the soldiers moved as though they were paralysed . Only when the rebels tried to press onward , they did their duty and forced them back with swords and lances . On both sides of the valley through which the Hebrews were passing towered lofty cliffs of grey granite , which glittered and flashed marvellously when the slanting sunbeams struck the bits of quartz thickly imbedded in the primeval rock . At noon the heat could not fail to be scorching again between the bare precipices which in many places jutted very near one another ; but the coolness of the morning still lingered . The cattle at least found some refreshment ; for many a bush of the juicy , fragrant betharan -- -LSB- Cantolina fragrantissima -RSB- -- afforded them food , and the shepherd-lads lifted their short frocks , filled the aprons thus made with them and , spite of their own exhaustion , held them up to the hungry mouths of the animals . They had passed an hour in this way , when a loud shout of joy suddenly rang out , passing from the vanguard through rank after rank till it reached the last roan in the rear . No one had heard in words to what event it was due , yet every one knew that it meant nothing else than the discovery of fresh water .