noon
Pasha came to know the feel of the saddle and the voice of the hounds . He was taught the long , easy lope . He learned how to gather himself for a sail through the air over a hurdle or a water-jump . Then , when he could take five bars clean , when he could clear an eight-foot ditch , when his wind was so sound that he could lead the chase from dawn until high noon , he was sent to the stables of a Virginia tobacco-planter who had need of a new hunter and who could afford Arab blood . In the stalls at Gray Oaks stables were many good hunters , but none better than Pasha . Cream-white he was , from the tip of his splendid , yard-long tail to his pink-lipped muzzle . His coat was as silk plush , his neck as supple as a swan 's , and out of his big , bright eyes there looked such intelligence that one half expected him to speak .