midday
Next morning they woke up to find the heavens black with clouds , heavy , ominous clouds ; the truth being that the drought was drawing to its natural end . Thomas noted this , and reflected bitterly how hard it was that this end should not have come twenty-four hours earlier . But so events had been decreed and he was helpless . By midday it began to rain , lightly at first , and from his rock he could see the people , looking unnatural and distorted in that strange gloom , for the clouds had descended almost to the earth , rushing about , holding out their hands as though to clasp the blessed moisture and talking excitedly one to the other . Soon they were driven into their huts , for the rain turned into a kind of waterspout . Never had such rain been known in Sisa-Land . All that afternoon it poured , and all the night with ever-increasing violence ; yes , and all the following morning , so that by noon Thomas 's rain-gauge showed that over twelve inches had fallen in about twenty-four hours , and it was still raining .