ten o'clock in the morning
The country was fertile ; game , therefore fresh meat , was everywhere in abundance , likewise fruit . Here and there in the low lands they chanced upon marshes , but still covered with water , therefore not infecting the air with their noxious exhalations . On the table-land there were none of the mosquitoes which inoculate the blood with fever . The heat from ten o'clock in the morning became unbearable but the little travelers stopped during the so-called `` white hours '' in the deep shade of great trees , through the dense foliage of which not a ray of the sun could penetrate . Perfect health also favored Nell , Stas , and the negroes . On the fifth day Stas rode with Nell on the King , for they had chanced upon a wide belt of acacias , growing so densely that the horses could move only on a path beaten down by the elephant . The hour was early , the morning radiant and dewy .