noon
He was always like this on a great hunt , when the game was near . Silent and brooding , and morose to the point of savagery . One might almost have fancied that in far distant days this man had been a tiger , and that the tiger still lived slumbering in his soul , triumphant over death , driving him forth at intervals from civilization to wander in the wild places of the earth and slay . Two hours past noon they resumed their journey : on , on , on , treading the elephant track which still went due east straight as an arrow to the blue horizon . The frightful tiredness they had felt before the noonday halt had passed , giving place to a dull , dreamy feeling , such as comes after taking opium . The column marched mechanically and without thought , knowing only two things , the feel of the hard ground and grass beneath their feet , and the smiting of the sun on their backs . Thus the galley slaves of old laboured at their oars and the builders of the pyramids beneath their loads , all moving like one man .