midday
`` No , sahib . '' `` I do n't understand their game , '' he mused , a perplexed frown on his brow . `` They 've quit popping away at us . '' It was far past midday when he heard from Rasula . The disagreeable weather may have been more or less responsible for the ruffling of Chase 's temper during those long , dreary hours of waiting . Be that as it may , he was sorely tried by the feeling of loneliness that attached itself to him . He had seen the Princess but once , and then she was walking briskly , wrapped in a rain coat , followed by her shivering dogs , and her two Rapp-Thorberg soldiers !