noon
Our cage was set now in what had been a woodland glade , an irregularly circular space of six or eight hundred feet , with the wreckage of the burned forest around it . We were on a slight rise of ground . Through the denuded trees the undulating landscape was visible over a considerable area . It was high noon , and the sun hung in a pale blue sky dotted with pure white clouds . Ahead of us , fringed with green where the fire had not reached , lay a blue river , sparkling in the sunlight . The Hudson ! But it was not named yet ; nearly eight hundred and fifty years were to pass before Hendrick Hudson came sailing up this river , adventuring , hoping that here was the way to China .