the
noon sun
`` Well , go to the village fast as you can , and tell the men there to come and pick up their dead . Tell them not to fear , for the Emperor has sent me to take care of them . '' With that the Count rode on . This was the sight presented him when he made the ascent : A wheat field sloping gradually to the northeast ; fire creeping across it crackling , smoking , momentarily widening ; through the cloud a company of Turkish soldiers halted , mostly horsemen , their arms glinting brightly in the noon sun ; blackened objects , unmistakably dead men , lying here and there . Thus the tale of the survivors of the massacre was confirmed . Corti gave his lance with the banderole on it to the guide . By direction his Berbers drove their lances into the earth that they might leave them standing , drew their swords , and brought their bucklers forward .