midday
By the first faint light we saw that what Roderick had told us was true . We were crossing the track of an army of many thousand men who had passed there recently with laden camels and horses . Moreover , those men were Fung , for we picked up some articles that could have belonged to no other people , such as a head-dress that had been lost or thrown away , and an arrow that had fallen from a quiver . However , we saw nothing of them , and , travelling fast , to our great relief by midday reached the river Ebur , which we crossed without difficulty , for it was now low . That night we camped in the forest-lands beyond , having all the afternoon marched up the rising ground at the foot of which ran the river . Toward dawn Higgs , whose turn it was to watch the camels , came and woke me . `` Sorry to disturb you , old fellow , '' he said , `` but there is a most curious sky effect behind us which I thought you might like to see . ''