Noon
asked the man . He lifted his pipe to his lips and blew a joyous succession of swift , unhesitant notes , as throbbing as the heat , as vivid as the sunshine . His lithe throat bubbled and strained with his effort , and his warm vitality poured through the mouthpiece of the pipe and issued melodiously at the farther end . Noon deepened through many shades of hot and slumberous splendor , the very silence intensified by the brilliant pageant of sound . A great hawk at sail overhead hung suddenly motionless upon unquivering wings . Every sheep in the pasture across the road lifted a questioning nose , and the entire flock moved swiftly nearer on a sudden impulse . And then the man threw down his pipe , and the silence closed in softly upon the ebbing waves of sound .