noon
It was finally discovered that the powder was exhausted , and the hat had to be sent round again for a new subscription . The annual procession is far and away the greatest event of the year at Janenne , and the septennial procession would of itself be enough to satisfy any resident in the village that he had lived if he had but seen it once . Nobody dreamed of spoiling the procession for the sake of a cart-load or so of gunpowder , and the hat was soon filled . Next Sunday Janenne enjoyed a new series of experiments on the big gun , and what with the banging of the drum , and the blowing of the bugle , and the flaming of torches in the dark morning , and the banging of the big gun from dawn till noon , and the clatter and glitter of the drill in the after part of the short winter day , the atmosphere of the village was altogether warlike . The big gun gave Lil an added claim on the veneration of her admirer . On the morning of the second firing she came demurely down to the field in which the artillery experiments were conducted , with an air of knowing all about it , and Schwartz , as usual , pursued her . The gun was sponged and loaded , and the charge was rammed home under Monsieur Dorn 's supervision , Lil standing gravely by , and Schwartz grovelling in her neighbourhood .