about noon
_ Later _ : Adventure for sandcart on one of the biggest plateaus . Looked all right from the top ; but a shriek from Mrs. East put me to the dire necessity of sliding off Farag and running to the rescue . The plateau was broken off in front and became a precipice which , Cleopatra seemed to think , would not have existed had `` Antoun '' arrived in tune to arrange it . Great wind came roaring up again about noon . Feared to learn that it had been impossible to get luncheon-tent in position . But when the time came to find it , there it was with its back to the blast , and its shady open front , of tile-patterned appliqué , offering the hoped-for picture of white table and smiling brown waiters . While we lunched , the fierce gusts striking the back canvas wall were like the frightened flappings of giant wings , and the beating of a great bird 's heart .