the autumn noon
`` Well , I saw old Watson , the keeper , as was murdered sixty years since , ` at 's what I saw , '' said Halsey with slow decisiveness . `` An ' what might be like ? '' asked Betts , with equal deliberation . The day was mild and sunny ; the half-ploughed field on which they had been working lay alternatively yellow in the stubbles and a rich brown purple in the new turned furrows under the autumn noon . A sense of well-being had been diffused in the two old men by food and rest . Halsey 's tongue grew looser . `` Well , I saw a man come creepin ' an ' crouchin ' down yon grass road '' -- -LRB- it was visible from where they sat , as a green streak on the side of the hill -RRB- -- `` same as several people afore me ` as seen ` um -- same as they allus say old Watson must ha ' come after Dempsey shot ` im .