noon
The breeze came blowing softly and caressingly from behind the sheltering rocks , and passed whisperingly through the bushes overhead . Heidi got up now and then to run about , for the flowers waving in the warm wind seemed to smell sweeter and to grow more thickly whichever way she went , and she felt she must sit down at each fresh spot to enjoy the sight and scent . So the hours went by . It was long past noon when a small troop of goats advanced solemnly towards the plain of flowers . It was not a feeding place of theirs , for they did not care to graze on flowers . They looked like an embassy arriving , with Greenfinch as their leader . They had evidently come in search of their companions who had left them in the lurch , and who had , contrary to all custom , remained away so long , for the goats could tell the time without mistake .