midday
Every moment the soft , damp heat grew more intense and clammy . Every time he touched his forehead he found it dripping . But of these things he recked very little , for every step now brought him nearer to the end of his journey . Faintly , through the midday silence he could hear the clanging of copper instruments and the weird mourning cry of the defeated natives . A few more steps and he was almost within sight of them . He slackened his pace and approached more stealthily until only a little screen of bushes separated him from the village and , peering through them , he saw a sight which made his blood run cold within him . They had the boy !