2:30
It was such a fine hot Midsummer day at Hollowdell station , that the porter had grown tired of teasing the truck-driver 's dog , and fallen fast asleep -- an example which the dog had tried to follow , but could not , because there was only one shady spot within the station-gates , and that had been taken possession of by the porter ; so the poor dog had tried first one place , and then another , but they were all so hot and stifling , and the flies kept buzzing about him so teasingly , that he grew quite cross , and barked and snapped so at the tiresome insects , that at last he woke Jem Barnes , the porter , who got up , stretched himself , yawned very rudely and loudly , and then , looking in at the station-clock , he saw that the 2:30 train from London was nearly due , so he made up his mind not to go to sleep again until it had passed . It _ was _ a hot day -- so hot that the great black tarpaulins over the goods-waggons were quite soft , and came off all black upon Jem Barnes 's hands . The air down the road seemed to quiver and dance over the white chalky dust ; while all the leaves upon the trees , and the grass in the meadows , drooped beneath the heat of the sun . As to the river , it shone like a band of silver as it wound in and out , and here and there ; and when you looked you could see the reflection of the great dragon-flies as they flitted and raced about over the glassy surface .