about five o'clock
The old man pushed away the dull , iridescent , rope-like thing with the toe of his boot , raised a straw hat in salute , and strode firmly onwards . `` I thank you , '' I called out ; whereupon , he replied without looking behind him : `` If the thing really WAS a grassworm , of course there was no danger . '' Then he disappeared among the tombstones . Looking at the sky , I perceived the time to be about five o'clock . The steppe wind was sighing over the tombs , and causing long stems of grass to rock to and fro , and freighting the heated air with the silken rustling of birches and limes and other trees , and leading one to detect amid the humming of summer a note of quiet grief eminently calculated to evoke lofty , direct thoughts concerning life and one 's fellow-men . Veiling with greenery , grey and white tombstones worn with the snows of winter , crosses streaked with marks of rain , and the wall with which the graveyard was encircled , the rank vegetation served to also conceal the propinquity of a slovenly , clamorous town which lay coated with rich , sooty grime amid an atmosphere of dust and smells . As I set off for a ramble among the tombs and tangled grass , I could discern through openings in the curtain of verdure a belfry 's gilded cross which reared itself solemnly over crosses and memorials .