From the introduction: In the rising shimmer of a hot afternoon the two figures waited, their forms distorted in the rippling heat of the day. About them the barren plains spread to the horizon in every direction and upon this featureless expanse one stood, the other bent upon his knee as he studied the ground at his feet. Both were quiet, the breeze that blew in gusts from the west spreading small drifts of dirt and sand around their heavy boots. There was not a sound to be heard, only the bluster of the wind disturbing the solitude of their thoughts. It was a silence that could only last a short time.