noon
By the time it was eleven , everything swam before his eyes . He once nearly fainted , and thought that he was going to die . Then rage gradually mastered him , and , all at once , he sprang out of his leafy hiding-place , desperately hungering for food , unable to remain there any longer , and determined to find something to eat , even should it cost him his liberty and life . It was then noon . On leaving the ditch he found the spreading lawns of the chateau of La Muette before him . He crossed them at a run , like a madman , instinctively going towards Boulogne , with the one idea that his only means of escape lay in that direction . It seemed miraculous that nobody paid attention to his helter-skelter flight .