midday
The brightness held dazzlingly . * * * * * But suddenly a fiercer pain swept into my consciousness -- the pain of gasping breath forcing air through a tortured gullet into suffocating lungs . I struggled up into the fierce illumination . From a sitting position I saw Abud , now clearly visible as in midday , craning his head way back . I looked , too -- and , in spite of my stabbing gasps for air , jumped to my feet . _ The search-rays from the scout planes were focussed directly on us ! _ I knew what that meant .