noon
The war was almost at an end for a time ; the Arabs were defeated and driven desertwards ; hostilities irksome , harassing , and annoying , like all guerrilla warfare , would long continue ; but peace was virtually established , and Zaraila had been the chief glory that had been added by the campaign to the flag of Imperial France . The kites and the vultures had left the bare bones by thousands to bleach upon the sands , and the hillocks of brown earth rose in crowds where those , more cared for in death , had been hastily thrust beneath the brown crust of the earth . The dead had received their portion of reward -- in the jackal 's teeth , in the crow 's beak , in the worm 's caress . And the living received theirs in this glorious , rose-flecked , glittering autumn morning , when the breath of winter made the air crisp and cool , but the ardent noon still lighted with its furnace glow the hillside and the plain . The whole of the Army of the South was drawn up on the immense level of the plateau to witness the presentation of the Cross of the Legion of Honor . It was full noon . The sun shone without a single cloud on the deep , sparkling azure of the skies .