the midday sun
It was about eleven o'clock in the morning . An overpowering heat had obliged the inhabitants of the factory to keep in their huts , and one would not even meet a single native in the streets of Kazounde . Mrs. Weldon was dozing near little Jack , who was sleeping soundly . Cousin Benedict , himself , suffering from the influence of this tropical temperature , had given up his favorite hunts , which was a great sacrifice for him , for , in those rays of the midday sun , he heard the rustle of a whole world of insects . He was sheltered , then , at the end of his hut , and there , sleep began to take possession of him in this involuntary siesta . Suddenly , as his eyes half closed , he heard a humming ; this is one of those insupportable buzzings of insects , some of which can give fifteen or sixteen thousand beats of their wings in a second . `` A hexapode ! ''