midnight
His tongue lolled out of his mouth and was dark-coloured and swollen , his head jerked forward loosely with each stride , and his tottering legs were bent almost double at the knees . If he sank just a little lower , his hanging hands would touch the ground , and he would crawl over the burning sand like any other dying beast , round and round , round and round , for nothing but utter exhaustion would stop that parade of death . Boss Stobart stood directly in the path of the shambling figure . It came on unheeding , with glazed eyes and spent senses , and bumped into the drover as if the hour had been pitch-dark midnight instead of a summer afternoon . Stobart caught it before it fell , and laid the limp body down very gently and looked into the man 's face . He uttered an exclamation of amazement . It was Patrick Dorrity , a man whom he had seen only a few months before , cooking on Tumurti Station .