noon
And always it was coming to those expectant parasites , since from minute to minute , somewhere in the vast depths , miles and miles away perhaps , a great crash echoed in the stillness , the crash of a tree that , sown when the Saxons ruled in England , or perhaps before Cleopatra bewitched Anthony , came to its end at last . On the second day of their march in the forest Alan chanced to see such a tree fall , and the sight was one that he never could forget . As it happened , owing to the vast spread of its branches which had killed out all rivals beneath , for in its day it had been a very successful tree embued with an excellent constitution by its parent , it stood somewhat alone , so that from several hundred yards away as these six human beings crept towards it like ants towards a sapling in a cornfield , its mighty girth and bulk set upon a little mound and the luxuriant greenness of its far-reaching boughs made a kind of landmark . Then in the hot noon when no breath of wind stirred , suddenly the end came . Suddenly that mighty bole seemed to crumble ; suddenly those far-reaching arms were thrown together as their support failed , gripping at each other like living things , flogging the air , screaming in their last agony , and with an awful wailing groan sinking , a tumbled ruin , to the earth . Silence again , and in the midst of the silence Jeekie 's cheerful voice . `` Old tree go flop !