noon
Morano 's breakfast was as good as ever ; and , when he had packed up those few belongings that make a dwelling-place of any chance spot in the wilderness , they mounted the horses , which were surely there , and rode away through sunlight and green leaves . They rode slow , for the branches were low over the path , and whoever canters in a forest and closes his eyes against a branch has to consider whether he will open them to be whipped by the next branch or close them till he bumps his head into a tree . And it suited Rodriguez to loiter , for he thought thus to meet the King of Shadow Valley again or his green bowmen and learn the answers to innumerable questions about his castle which were wandering through his mind . They ate and slept at noon in the forest 's glittering greenness . They passed afterwards by the old house in the wood , in which the bowmen feasted , for they followed the track that they had taken before . They knocked loud on the door as they passed but the house was empty . They heard the sound of a multitude felling trees , but whenever they approached the sound of chopping ceased .