noon
Cigarette had known well how it would be with them ; she had accompanied such escorts many a time ; and ever and again when they halted she dismounted and came to them , and mixed wine with some water that she had slung a barrel of to her saddle , and gave it to them , and moved their bandages , and spoke to them with a soft , caressing consolation that pacified them as if by some magic . She had led them like a young lion on to the slaughter in the past day ; she soothed them now with a gentleness that the gentlest daughter of the Church could not have surpassed . The way was long ; the road ill formed , leading for the most part across a sear and desolate country , with nothing to relieve its barrenness except long stretches of the great spear-headed reeds . At noon the heat was intense ; the little cavalcade halted for half an hour under the shade of some black , towering rocks which broke the monotony of the district , and commenced a more hilly and more picturesque portion of the country . Cigarette came to the side of the temporary ambulance in which Cecil was placed . He was asleep -- sleeping for once peacefully , with little trace of pain upon his features , as he had slept the previous night . She saw that his face and chest had not been touched by the stinging insect-swarm ; he was doubly screened by a shirt hung above him dexterously on some bent sticks .