noon
Well did I know you would never prosper without me at your elbow . '' Eustace smiled , but he was too much heated and vexed to give a very cheerful assent . He had only time to load Ferragus with his armour , and mount a small pony , before the signal for the march was given , and all set forth . Early in the year as it was , the sun already possessed great force , and the dry rocky soil of Castile reflected his beams , so that , long before noon , it seemed to Eustace almost as if their march lay through an oven . Nor were his perplexities by any means at an end ; the thirst , occasioned by the heat , was excessive , and at every venta , in the villages through which they passed , the men called loudly for liquor ; but the hot , fiery Spanish wine was , as Eustace had already been cautioned by Father Waleran , only fit to increase the evil , by inflaming their blood . It was the Holy Week , which was to him a sufficient reason for refraining entirely , contenting himself with a drink of water , when it could be procured , which , however , was but rarely . He would willingly have persuaded his men to do the same , but remonstrance was almost without effect , and his dry lips refused to utter a prohibition , which would have been esteemed at once cruel and unreasonable .