midday
Were it not for this mysterious occurrence , and Varvy 's detestable liquors , I would here recommend all travellers going round by the beach to Partoowye to stop at the Rock , and patronize the old gentleman -- the more especially as he entertains gratis . UPON starting , at last , I flung away my sandals -- by this time quite worn out -- with the view of keeping company with the doctor , now forced to go barefooted . Recovering his spirits in good time , he protested that boots were a bore after all , and going without them decidedly manly . This was said , be it observed , while strolling along over a soft carpet of grass ; a little moist , even at midday , from the shade of the wood through which we were passing . Emerging from this we entered upon a blank , sandy tract , upon which the sun 's rays fairly flashed ; making the loose gravel under foot well nigh as hot as the floor of an oven . Such yelling and leaping as there was in getting over this ground would be hard to surpass . We could not have crossed at all -- until toward sunset -- had it not been for a few small , wiry bushes growing here and there , into which we every now and then thrust our feet to cool .