twelve o’clock
Therefore the crow could not claim to fly as rapidly as the imperial bird . Nadia and Michael immediately took their places in the tarantass . A small store of provisions was put in the box , in case at any time they were delayed in reaching the post-houses , which are very comfortably provided under direction of the State . The hood was pulled up , as it was insupport-ably hot , and at twelve o'clock the tarantass left Perm in a cloud of dust . The way in which the iemschik kept up the pace of his team would have certainly astonished travelers who , being neither Russians nor Siberians , were not accustomed to this sort of thing . The leader , rather larger than the others , kept to a steady long trot , perfectly regular , whether up or down hill . The two other horses seemed to know no other pace than the gallop , though they performed many an eccentric curvette as they went along .