midnight
The pannikin was wrenched from his hand , and the canteen -- what of the canteen ? Sax lay stunned for a moment , and then his first and only thought was the canteen . He tried to crawl , but every effort on his part only gave the enormous pressure of wind opportunity to drive him back , for as soon as he lifted his head , it was caught and twisted as if some soft strangling folds of cloth were being pulled around it from behind . The light of the sun was blotted out completely , and it was as dark as a starless midnight . A screaming sound filled the boy 's ears : the yelling of the storm , the laughter of the furies , the shrill shouts of fiends . He had to shield his mouth in order to breathe , and even then a fine dust choked his throat , and he would have coughed and vomited up his very life if he had not turned his back to the storm . Enormous quantities of sand were crowding the gale .