the
eight o'clock sun
What drove Jerry the maddest were not the blows and physical torment , but the laughter . No dog enjoys being laughed at , and Jerry , least of all , could restrain his wrath when they jeered him and cackled close in his face . Although he had not howled once , his snarling and growling , combined with his thirst , had hoarsened his throat and dried the mucous membranes of his mouth so that he was incapable , except under the sheerest provocation , of further sound . His tongue hung out of his mouth , and the eight o'clock sun began slowly to burn it . It was at this time that one of the boys cruelly outraged him . He rolled Jerry out of the hollow in which he had lain all night on his back , turned him over on his side , and presented to him a small calabash filled with water . Jerry lapped it so fanatically that not for half a minute did he become aware that the boy had squeezed into it many hot seeds of ripe red peppers .