noon
-- inspired a succession of rising fears , which the joy of my deliverance could scarcely counterbalance . I regretted the rash haste with which I had parted with my half-crown . I had not a farthing on earth , I had nothing to sell , nothing to eat , no soul to give me a morsel . It was noon , when I fled from the ploughed field ; I had been hard at work from three o'clock in the morning , had since travelled at least twelve or fourteen miles , wounded as I was , and began to feel myself excessively weary , stiff , and craving after food . Where I had got the notion , whether from father , mother , aunt , or uncle , I know not , but I had been taught that to beg was an indelible disgrace ; and to steal every body had told me was the road to Tyburn . Starve or hang ; that is the law . If I even asked for work , who wanted my service ?