midday
Who would not pray for peace on earth , good will towards men -LCB- xv -RCB- ? The castle and village of Aescendune lay in deep silence all through this eventful day ; it was in early spring , and the air was balmy , the sun bright , the birds sang their sweetest songs , the hedgerows and trees put forth their fresh green buds , and all nature seemed instinct with life . Only a few gray-headed servitors were left to guard the precincts of the castle , for no attack was apprehended from the marauders of the forest , as the Normans styled the English ; and every one who could bear arms had left to swell the final triumph of Hugo . Noontide came , and found the little band , of some score aged men , intent upon their midday meal . This accomplished , they reclined in various easy positions , around the battlements , or on the greensward without , while some had even penetrated into the forest in their eagerness to hear the first news of the extermination of the English , which none doubted was close at hand . Towards the evening , one of them , who lay reclining on a mossy bank beneath a spreading beech , on a slight eminence , observed a great smoke rising above the tree tops in the distance . `` Doubtless , '' thought he , `` they are smoking the vermin out , or burning the houses and barns -- of which we have heard -- within the circle of the Deadly Swamp . ''