four o'clock
He went back to his work , and Conniston hurried away , decidedly glad for the change of work . Just to grip his horse between his knees , to swing out alone across the rolling fields , to drink deep of the untroubled stillness of the wide places , to be an independent , swiftly moving figure with nothing to break the silent harmony of the still , hot sky above and the still , hot sands beneath -- a harmony which the soul leaped out to meet -- brought a quiet , peaceful content . The day was serene and perfect , like yesterday and to-morrow in this land of dreary barrenness and of infinite possibility ; the faint blue of the cloudless sky met the gray monotone of the earth between two mounds in front of him ; and as his horse 's hoofs fell noiselessly , as though upon padded felt , his sensation was that of drifting across the wide sweep of a gently swelling ocean toward a landlocked sea of pale turquoise . It was shortly after four o'clock when he rode into Valley City . He passed the one-room school-house , with its distinctive little belfry and flag-pole , and a glance in at the open windows told him that the children had been dismissed . At the corner of the building he came suddenly upon a saddled horse biting and stamping at the flies which defied swishing tail and savage teeth . Half smiling , he stopped .