an hour after midnight
In a Sahara simoom , men are content just to live . Before midnight the storm died with a suddenness even greater than that of its onset . Like a tangible flock of evil birds or of the spirits Victor Hugo has painted in _ Les Djinns _ , the sand-storm blew itself out to sea and vanished . The black sky opened its eyes of starlight , once again ; gradually calm descended on the desert , and by an hour after midnight the steady east wind had begun to blow again . The `` wolf 's tail , '' or first gray streak of dawn along the horizon , found the Legion all astir . Lebon had long since been told of his rescue ; he and his lieutenant had embraced and had given each other a long story -- the enslaved man 's story making Leclair 's face white with rage , his heart a furnace of vengeance on all Islam . The Sheik , dimly understanding that these devils of Feringistan had by their super-magic overwhelmed him and his tribe with sleep-magic and storm-magic of the strongest , lay bound hand and foot , sullenly brooding .