nine o'clock in the
morning
They made up a list for the rations supervisor to fill for them before they were to leave Alugean . The list was common to them both and they were comprised of field hiking packs full of dried meats , fruits and vegetables , two four-litre water sacks and two electric lights . When Lloyd and Boyce finished giving Burman and the library steward the final details of how and when they would be notified about their own advance on Pomperaque , they left the city , hailed with luck from each worker within . It was an unusually hot day and it was n't yet nine o'clock in the morning . Not far from Alugean , they took their first break by a stream and sucked back a few healthy gulps of water from their sacks . There was n't a cloud in the sky and the air felt thick to breathe as they slowly advanced south . They took to walking in the shade of the trees that were all around them on their path , and only after Boyce noticed a dragonfly fanning itself on a boulder , were both of the men aware that there was a strange lack of insect life .