midday
At it ! Good dog ! '' a man began scratching the sand as a ratting terrier does the earth , until he had excavated a hole big enough in which to curl himself , where he lay until desert things that creep and crawl drove him out again , shrieking for water . And the full force of the storm crashed about Jill 's defenceless head at the midday hour also of the same day , when she ought to have been searching the coolness of her midday sleeping chamber , and forgetfulness of the last few hours in sleep . Not quite defenceless was she , however , as she sat back in the chair , her eyes ablaze and her veil torn to shreds at her feet , ripping the moral atmosphere with words which seemed to have been dipped in some corrosive verbal fluid . She was angry , hurt , and deathly tired , and was doing her best to pass some of her mental suffering anyway on to the man who leant with folded arms against the cedar wall . The inevitable crisis had come !