Four o'clock
Nevertheless he walked on ; and the hours went by ; and the belt of land unrolled vaguely before his eyes the same monotonous spectacle , the same melancholy sand-hills , the same dreary landscapes on which no sun had ever shone . `` I shall get there , '' he repeated , stubbornly . `` I mean to get there ; I must and shall . '' Four o'clock . He often looked at his watch , as though expecting a miraculous intervention at some precise moment , he did not know when . Worn out by excessive and ill-directed efforts , exhausted by the fear of a hideous death , he was gradually yielding beneath the weight of a fatigue which tortured his body and unhinged his brain . He was afraid .