noon
said the little girl again . The cat slunk swiftly away as the children came up . Then the tallest of the little girls swung the door of the little cloakroom wide open and they all ran in . The day was very hot , and the silence of high noon lay close and thick between the steep slopes of the cañóns like an invisible , muffling fluid . At intervals the drone of an insect bored the air and trailed slowly to silence again . Everywhere were pungent , aromatic smells . The vast , moveless heat seemed to distil countless odors from the brush -- odors of warm sap , of pine needles , and of tar-weed , and above all the medicinal odor of witch hazel .