about five o’clock
The tall forest trees shut out every breath of air so completely that the little valley across which the sportsman was making his way was as hot as a furnace ; the silent forest seemed parched with the fiery heat . Birds and insects were mute ; the topmost twigs of the trees swayed with scarcely perceptible motion . Any one who retains some recollection of the summer of 1819 must surely compassionate the plight of the hapless supporter of the ministry who toiled and sweated over the stubble to rejoin his satirical comrade . That gentleman , as he smoked his cigar , had arrived , by a process of calculation based on the altitude of the sun , to the conclusion that it must be about five o'clock . `` Where the devil are we ? '' asked the stout sportsman . He wiped his brow as he spoke , and propped himself against a tree in the field opposite his companion , feeling quite unequal to clearing the broad ditch that lay between them .