noon
They searched long for Plut ; he had buried himself deep in a nettle bush and lay there as if dead ; at last he came out when he saw that the battle was over . Thus ended the last foray in Lithuania .165 Consultation in regard to securing the fortunes of the victors -- Negotiations with Rykov -- The farewell -- An important discovery -- Hope . The morning clouds , dispersed for a moment , like black birds , kept gathering and flying towards the summit of the heavens ; hardly had the sun declined from noon when their flock had covered half the sky with an immense mantle ; the wind drove it on faster and faster , the cloud grew more and more dense and hung lower and lower : finally , half torn away from the sky on one side , bending towards the earth , and spread out far and wide like a great sail , it gathered into itself all the winds and flew over the sky from the south to the west . There was an instant of calm , and the air became dull and silent , as if dumb with terror . And the fields of grain , which just before , bowing to the earth and again shaking their golden ears on high , had tossed like waves , now stood motionless and gazed at the sky with bristling stalks . And the green willows and poplars by the roadside , which , like mourners by an open grave , had been bowing their heads to the earth , and brandishing their long arms , with their silver tresses spread out on the winds , now stood as if dead , with an expression of dumb grief like the statue of Niobe on Sipylos .