About two o'clock
`` God punishes treachery , '' answered Stas . It was apparent , however , that the assurance with which the boy spoke in connection with the evil omen in the form of a snake which succeeded in escaping , disquieted Idris in a high degree . Having already mounted the camel he repeated several times : `` Yes , I was kind to you , '' as if in any event he wished to impress this upon Stas ' memory , and afterwards he began to finger the beads of a rosary made of the shells of `` dum '' nuts , and pray . About two o'clock , though it was in the winter season , the heat became unusual . In the sky there was not a cloudlet , but the horizon 's border was disfigured . Above the caravan hovered a few vultures whose widely outstretched wings cast moving , black shadows on the tawny sands . In the heated air could be smelt an odor like the gas exhaled from burning charcoal .