about twelve o’clock
Long and earnestly she looked , sending her farewell through space to that true friend and deliverer whose eyes , as she knew well , watched her flight and whose heart went with her . Then she travelled on sadly , wondering what was that plan of escape of which Sihamba had spoken , and why it was that she stood there by the corpse and did not put it into practice , wondering also when they should meet again and where . A third time she turned , and now the dead woman on the rock was but as a tiny point of white , and now it had altogether vanished away . After this Suzanne halted no more , but pressed on steadily towards the saw-edged spur , which she reached about twelve o'clock , for the grass was so tall , the untrodden veldt so rough , and the sun so hot that , weak as she felt with grief and the effects of thirst , and laden with a heavy child , her progress was very slow . At length , however , she stood gasping in its shadow , gazing dismayed at the huge range of mountains before her and the steep rough cliffs up which she must climb . `` Never shall I cross them without foot and weighted with this child , so the end of it will be that I must die after all , '' thought Suzanne as she sank down by the banks of a little rivulet , resting her swollen feet in its cool stream , for then , and indeed for weeks after , it seemed to her that she could never have enough of the taste and smell and feel of water . As she sat thus , striving to still the wailing of the hungry boy , suddenly the shadow of a man fell upon her .