noon before
Go to him -- coward ! -- and let the balls that kill him reach you too , if you have one trait of manhood left in you ! '' Then , swiftly as a swallow darts , she quitted him and flew on her headlong way , down through the pressure of the people , and the throngs of the marts , and the noise , and the color , and the movement of the streets . The sun was scarce declined from its noon before she rode out of the city , on a half-bred horse of the Spahis , swift as the antelope and as wild , with her only equipment some pistols in her holsters , and a bag of rice and a skin of water slung at her saddle-bow . They asked her where she went ; she never answered . The hoofs struck sharp echoes out of the rugged stones , and the people were scattered like chaff as she went at full gallop down through Algiers . Her comrades , used to see her ever with some song in the air and some laugh on the lips as she went , looked after her with wonder as she passed them , silent , and with her face white and stern as though the bright , brown loveliness of it had been changed to alabaster .