noon
After my terrible adventure I did not rest badly that night , albeit I slept on an empty stomach -LRB- the sardines counting as nothing -RRB- , and under the vast , void sky , powdered with innumerable stars . And when I proceeded next day on my journey , _ God 's light _ , as the pious Orientals call the first wave of glory with which the rising sun floods the world , had never seemed so pleasant to my eyes , nor had earth ever looked fresher or lovelier , with the grass and bushes everywhere hung with starry lace , sparkling with countless dewy gems , which the _ epeiras _ had woven overnight . Life seemed very sweet to me on that morning , so softening my heart that when I remembered the murderous wretch who had endangered it I almost regretted that he was now probably blind and deaf to nature 's sweet ministrations . Before noon I came to a large , thatched house , with clumps of shady trees growing near it , also surrounded with brushwood fences and sheep and cattle enclosures . The blue smoke curling peacefully up from the chimney and the white gleam of the walls through the shady trees -- for this _ rancho _ actually boasted a chimney and whitewashed walls -- looked exceedingly inviting to my tired eyes . How pleasant a good breakfast , with a long siesta in the shade after it , would be , thought I ; but , alas ! was I not pursued by the awful phantoms of political vengeance ?