noon
Robert was delighted . He had thrown himself with his whole soul into the Virginia life , and he was eager to see the race run . So were all the others , and even the grave eyes of Tayoga sparkled when he heard of it . It was broad daylight when he went to bed , but he was up at noon , and in the afternoon he went to the House of Burgesses to hear the governor make a speech to the members on the war and its emergencies . Dinwiddie , like Shirley , the governor of Massachusetts , appreciated the extreme gravity of the crisis , and his address was solemn and weighty . He told them that the shadow in the north was black and menacing . The French were an ambitious people , brave , tenacious and skillful .