midday
Before him squatted on their heels in the posture white men find so trying Mali-ya-bwana and Simba , entirely respectful , their shining black eyes fixed on the white man . The open ends of the _ banda _ gave out on a dry boulder-strewn wash and the parched side of a hill . All else was sky . Morning coolness was succeeded by the blaze of midday , when the very surface of the ground danced in the shimmer ; then slowly the shadows crept out , the veils of mirage sank to earth , a coolness wandered in from some blessed region ; darkness came suddenly ; over the parched hill -- now looming mysterious in black garments -- the tropic stars blazed out . Then outside some one lighted a fire . The flames cast lights and shadows within the _ banda _ where still the white man leaned on his elbow , the black men squatted on their heels , and the murmur of talk went on and on . But Winkleman got his way .