about noon
Near the Great City the girls spread out , so as to approach it from different directions and thus attract less attention , although the time of sleep was not yet over and we knew that few would be stirring about the city . When we reached home we greeted Lua , and dismissed the girls , arranging that they were to come back again that evening -- fifty of them this time -- to carry the larger platform we were to build . We then had breakfast , and after telling Lua the result of the meeting -- at which she was greatly pleased -- we went immediately to bed , for we were worn out . It was about noon , I suppose , when we awoke . Mercer and I spent the afternoon building the platform on which to carry Tao 's men -- a framework with fifty handles instead of twenty . Miela and Anina disappeared for the whole afternoon . I did not know what they were doing at the time ; later I found out Anina was devoting it to learning English .