noon
It was warm work . The dust from the fleeces and the trampling feet filled the air . As the sun rose higher in the sky the sweat poured off the men 's faces ; and Felipe , standing without shelter on the roof , found out very soon that he had by no means yet got back his full strength since the fever . Long before noon , except for sheer pride , and for the recollection of Juan Canito 's speech , he would have come down and yielded his place to the old man . But he was resolved not to give up , and he worked on , though his face was purple and his head throbbing . After the bag of fleeces is half full , the packer stands in it , jumping with his full weight on the wool , as he throws in the fleeces , to compress them as much as possible . When Felipe began to do this , he found that he had indeed overrated his strength .