Noon
Ali felt himself inspired : the Arab in his desert feels like the mountaineer on his rocky mountains , and like the islander at the sight of the ocean . When he sees it for the first time , he finds himself like a bird in its own element , and confidently abandons himself to the impulse of his feelings . The over-excited youth exhausted all his strength . Noon approached , and the heat was oppressive . Ali hastened with quick pace towards the distant mountains , and , like his ancestress Hagar , in former days , wished for a fountain to quench his thirst . Having once heard of a fountain near the spot where he now was , his delight was great on approaching a large tract where many palms of an indifferent growth arched themselves over a spring . The rippling water excited and increased his thirst as he stood near it .