midday
I was drunk with sleep , and it was with the utmost difficulty that he induced me to mount the only horse still capable of carrying me . We were parched with thirst , and our plight was perhaps worse than it had ever been , for all around stretched the fatal flowers , and it might well be that we could not clear them before night fell , and their poison became overpowering in its strength . On the horse , my head cleared somewhat , probably because I was higher from the ground , where the perfume hung heavily , although I could not rid myself of the drowsiness . At midday we were forced to halt for a rest forced , too , to take it in the glaring sun , on the top of a bare dune , for we dare not even cover ourselves with a bundle of the plants for fear of the poison . An hour or two we sat and grilled , and then forced ourselves onward once more , for the pan was still distant , and we feared we should not reach it before dark which would mean we would never reach it at all ! But struggle as we would , we could make but little progress , and it was with mortal fear that I beheld the sun sink , and saw from a high dune that there was fully a mile of thick flowers between us and the pan , where dark bush and big trees showed plainly , and where the flowers ended abruptly . `` Let us stay here , '' I urged Inyati , `` surely we are safe here on the top of the dune ? ''