midday
`` Pooh ! '' said Jeekie , `` all right now , they much afraid . Still , no time for coffee , we best get on . '' So they got on as they could , till towards midday the forest began to thin out . Now as the light grew stronger they could see the dwarfs , of whom there appeared to be several hundred , keeping a parallel course to their own on either side of them at what they thought to be a safe distance . `` Try one shot , I think , '' said Jeekie , kneeling down and letting fly at a clump of the little men , which scattered like a covey of partridges , leaving one of its number kicking on the ground . `` Ah !