midday
There was no overacting , though , in what Joanna did . Nobody would have dreamed that she was playing any kind of part , or interested in anything at all except the coppers that she begged for . She squatted in the roadway , ink-black and clear-cut in the now blazing sunlight , alternately flattering them and pretending to a knowledge of unguessed-at witchcraft . She was there still at midday when they changed the guard . She was there when night fell , still squatting in the roadway , still exchanging repartee and hints at the supernatural with armed men who shuddered now and then between their bursts of mockery . The sore , suffering dogs that sniff through the night for worse eyesores than themselves whimpered and watched her . The guard changed and the moon paled , but she stayed on ; and whatever her purpose , or whatever information she obtained in fragments amid the raillery , she did not return to the mission house .