midnight
`` You heard what the guide said . '' `` Yes , you 'll wish you were a camel before you have done with this journey , '' added Lieutenant Wingate . Too weary to talk , Anne and Nora were nodding on their saddles , but Elfreda was wide awake and alert , filled with a wonder that was akin to awe at the vast mysteriousness of the desert night . It was shortly after midnight when Hi Lang halted and sat surveying his surroundings . `` Dismount and rest ! '' was his brief command . The Overland girls slid from their saddles , and the guide , after handing his bridle-rein to Ping , strode off into the darkness .