noon
Baboo is a man and a witch . He is tired of walking , and is riding on the back of the tiger ! '' Aboo gazed into my face incredulously for a moment ; then , picking up his parang and tightening his sarong , strode on ahead without a word . At noon we came upon a sandy stretch of soil that contained a few diseased cocoanut palms , fringed by a sluggish lagoon , and a great banian tree whose trunk was hardly more than a mass of interlaced roots . A troop of long-armed wah-wah monkeys were scolding and whistling within its dense foliage with surprising intensity . Occasionally one would drop from an outreaching limb to one of the pendulous roots , and then , with a shrill whistle of fright , spring back to the protection of his mates . A Malay silenced them by throwing a half-ripe cocoanut into the midst of the tree , and we moved on to the shade of the sturdiest palm .