noon
No one seemed able to determine which . When the day grew hotter , and the utterly remorseless Indian sun bore down on them , and on the aching desolation of the plain and the burnt-out guardhouse , the fakir still sat unblinking , gazing straight out in front of him , with eyes that hated but did nothing else . He seemed to have no time nor thought nor care for anything but hate and the expression of it . At noon , three little children came to him , and brought him water in a small brass bowl , and cooked-up vegetables wrapped in some kind of leaf . Brown let him have theirs , and bribed the frightened children to go and bring water for the men and himself . He gave them the unheard-of wealth of one rupee between them , and they went off with it -- and did not come back . Meanwhile the fakir had drunk his water , and had poured out what was left .