nine o'clock
He was touched by the noise of the crickets , the chirp of the tree toads , the hang of the lucent suns and planets above the tree tops . The whole night was quick with the richness of fertility , stirring subtly about some work which concerned man very little or not at all , yet of which he was at least a part , till his eyelids drooped after a time and he went to bed to sleep deeply and dreamlessly . Next morning he was up early , eager for the hour to arrive when he might start . He did not think it advisable to leave before nine o'clock , and attracted considerable attention by strolling about , his tall , spare , graceful figure and forceful profile being an unusual sight to the natives . At nine o'clock a respectable carryall was placed at his disposal and he was driven out over a long yellow road , damp with the rain of the night before and shaded in places by overhanging trees . There were so many lovely wild flowers growing in the angles of the rail fences -- wild yellow and pink roses , elder flower , Queen Anne 's lace , dozens of beautiful blooms , that Eugene was lost in admiration . His heart sang over the beauty of yellowing wheatfields , the young corn , already three feet high , the vistas of hay and clover , with patches of woods enclosing them , and over all , house martens and swallows scudding after insects and high up in the air his boyhood dream of beauty , a soaring buzzard .