midnight
Just then we arrived at our camp-house , where Billali bade me farewell , saying that he wished to rest as he must be back at dawn with litters , when he hoped to find us ready to start . Then he departed . Umslopogaas and Hans also went away to sleep , leaving me alone who , having taken my repose in the afternoon , did not feel drowsy at the moment . So lovely was the night indeed that I made up my mind to take a little walk during the midnight hours , after the manner of the Amahagger themselves , for having now been recognised as Generalissimo of their forces , I had little fear of being attacked , especially as I carried a pistol in my pocket . So off I set strolling slowly down what seemed to have been a main street of the ancient city , which in its general appearance resembled excavated Pompeii , only on an infinitely larger scale . As I went I meditated on the strange circumstances in which I found myself . Really they tempted me to believe that I was suffering from delusions and perhaps all the while in fact lay stretched upon a bed in the delirium of fever .