three in the afternoon
He said , too , that it would be as well for him to go on before them to find him , and give him his lady 's answer ; for that perhaps might be enough to bring him away from the place without putting them to all this trouble . They approved of what Sancho proposed , and resolved to wait for him until he brought back word of having found his master . Sancho pushed on into the glens of the Sierra , leaving them in one through which there flowed a little gentle rivulet , and where the rocks and trees afforded a cool and grateful shade . It was an August day with all the heat of one , and the heat in those parts is intense , and the hour was three in the afternoon , all which made the spot the more inviting and tempted them to wait there for Sancho 's return , which they did . They were reposing , then , in the shade , when a voice unaccompanied by the notes of any instrument , but sweet and pleasing in its tone , reached their ears , at which they were not a little astonished , as the place did not seem to them likely quarters for one who sang so well ; for though it is often said that shepherds of rare voice are to be found in the woods and fields , this is rather a flight of the poet 's fancy than the truth . And still more surprised were they when they perceived that what they heard sung were the verses not of rustic shepherds , but of the polished wits of the city ; and so it proved , for the verses they heard were these : What makes my quest of happiness seem vain ? Disdain .