noon
`` We 'll try Quincy , anyhow , '' Bertie said . Billy suggested that they inquire of people on the road . This provided a new sporting event : they could bet upon the answers . Now , the roads , not populous at noon , had grown solitary in the sweetness of the long twilight . Voices of birds there were ; and little , black , quick brooks , full to the margin grass , shot under the roadway through low bridges . Through the web of young foliage the sky shone saffron , and frogs piped in the meadow swamps . No cart or carriage appeared , however , and the bets languished .