four o’clock
Then he gave us a paper and dismissed us . We pursued our journey through the heat that shimmered up from the road , pausing now and again in the shade of a wayside tree . At times I thought I could bear the sun no longer . But towards four o'clock of that day a great bank of yellow cloud rolled up , darkening the earth save for a queer saffron light that stained everything , and made our very faces yellow . And then a wind burst out of the east with a high mournful note , as from a great flute afar , filling the air with leaves and branches of trees . But it bore , too , a savor that was new to me , -- a salt savor , deep and fresh , that I drew down into my lungs . And I knew that we were near the ocean .