about noon
But they bade him to meat , and he needed no second bidding but ate lustily , and they gave him wine , and he drank a great draught and sighed as for joy . Then he said in a trembling voice , as though he feared a naysay : ` If ye are from Burgdale ye shall be faring back again presently ; and I pray you to take me with you . ' Said Face-of-god : ` Yea surely , friend , that will we do , and rejoice in thee . ' Then he drank another cup which Warcliff held out to him , and spake again : ` Yet if ye would abide here till about noon to-morrow , or mayhappen a little later , I would bring other runaways to see you ; and them also might ye take with you : ye may think when ye see them that ye shall have small gain of their company ; for poor wretched folk they be , like to myself . Yet since ye seek for tidings , herein might they do you more service than I ; for amongst them are some who came out of the hapless Dale within this moon ; and it is six months since I escaped . Moreover , though they may look spent and outworn now , yet if ye give them a little rest , and feed them well , they shall yet do many a day 's work for you : and I tell you that if ye take them for thralls , and put collars on their necks , and use them no worse than a goodman useth his oxen and his asses , beating them not save when they are idle or at fault , it shall be to them as if they were come to heaven out of hell , and to such goodhap as they have not thought of , save in dreams , for many and many a day . And thus I entreat you to do because ye seem to me to be happy and merciful men , who will not begrudge us this happiness . '