noon
For exercise we paced our cell times without number , and when tired would seat ourselves on the rough stone bench and calmly discuss the situation . The Naya , the mysterious Great White Queen , had ordered Omar to return with all haste , yet already two moons had run their course since we had landed in Africa . This troubled my companion even more than the fact of being betrayed into the hands of his enemies . The tiny streak of light that showed high above our heads grew brighter towards noon , then began slowly to decline . Before the shadows had lengthened in the court above , however , the sound of our door being unbarred aroused us from our lethargy , and a moment later , three soldiers entered and told us to prepare to go before the great ruler Samory . Omar , attired only in a small garment of bark-cloth , took no heed of his toilet , therefore we at once announced our readiness to leave the loathsome place with its myriad creeping things , and it was with a feeling of intense relief that a few minutes later we ascended to the blessed light of day . Marched between a small posse of soldiers , we crossed the court to a larger and more handsome square , decorated in Arab style with horseshoe arches and wide colonnades , until at the further end a great curtain of crimson velvet was drawn aside and we found ourselves in a spacious hall , wherein many gorgeously attired persons had assembled and in the centre of which was erected a great canopy of amaranth-coloured silk supported by pillars of gold surmounted by the crescent .