noon
'T was not them I feared , but that other force now screened behind the mountains , who had for their leader some white madman with a fire in his head and Bible words on his lips . Were we of Virginia destined to fight with such fanatics as had distracted Scotland -- fanatics naming the name of God , but leading in our case the armies of hell ? It was about eleven in the forenoon , I think , that Shalah dropped his easy swing and grew circumspect . The sun was very hot , and the noon silence lay dead on the woodlands . Scarcely a leaf stirred , and the only sounds were the twittering grasshoppers and the drone of flies . But Shalah found food for thought . Again and again he became rigid , and then laid an ear to the ground .