noon
They slowly melted away , and in their place he saw the streets of a tiny village in some foreign country which he did not know . A moment later , in what seemed at the time a perfectly natural transition from his bed in an Adirondack club-house , he was walking up the streets of the little town , in correct tourist attire , looking in vain for a familiar landmark , and with a strange sinking of the heart . How he got there , or why he was there , was equally incomprehensible to him . It was high noon of a warm summer day , and the red roofs of the old buildings seemed to glow in the heat . Before him , at the end of the street down which he was walking , was a public square where marketing was going on in the open . It was crowded with men and women in picturesque peasant costumes he did not recognize , though he had travelled a great deal . As he drew nearer he heard them speaking , but discovered that their tongue was as unknown to him as their garb .