noon
They found the two bricks which they kept hidden in the thicket , and kindled a little fire of twigs , over which to roast the blood-pudding at the end of a bayonet . When they had breakfasted , eaten their bread to the last crumb , and drunk their wine to the last drop , they remained seated side by side upon the grass , saying nothing , their eyes on the distance , their eyelids drooping , their fingers crossed as at mass , their red legs stretched out beside the poppies of the field . And the leather of their helmets and the brass of their buttons glittered in the ardent sun , making the larks , which sang and hovered above their heads , cease in mid-song . Toward noon they began to turn their eyes from time to time in the direction of the village of Bezons , because the girl with the cow was coming . She passed by them every Sunday on her way to milk and change the pasture of her cow -- the only cow in this district which ever went out of the stable to grass . It was pastured in a narrow field along the edge of the wood a little farther on . They soon perceived the girl , the only human being within vision , and were gladdened by the brilliant reflections thrown off by the tin milk-pail under the rays of the sun .