noon
Onward went the two shepherds , and suddenly , they perceived that their journey was half over , `` because the tomb of Bianor was immediately below them ... '' Oh ! how vividly I saw that tomb of Bianor disclose itself to their view . Its old stones , that made a white blot on the reddish road , were covered with tiny sun-scorched plants , wild thyme or marjoram , and here and there grew stunted dark foliaged shrubs . And the sonority of the word Bianoris with which the sentence ended suddenly and magically evoked for me the musical humming of the insects that buzzed around the two travellers who , upon that bygone day in June , walked onward in the great silence and serene tranquillity of the hot noon enkindled by a younger sun . I was no longer in the schoolroom ; I was in the meadows with the shepherds walking with them this radiant summer day through the sun-scorched flowers and grass of a Roman field , -- but still all seemed softened and vague as if looked at through a telescope that had the power to draw into its line of vision ages long past . Who knows ? Perhaps if the Big Ape could but have divined the causes that led to my momentary inattention it might have brought about an understanding between us .