midday
And as that midge from the void touches it , the transparent gaseous outer shell clouds in an instant green and then slowly clears again ... . Thereafter , for three hours or more , -- we know the minimum time for the Change was almost exactly three hours because all the clocks and watches kept going -- everywhere , no man nor beast nor bird nor any living thing that breathes the air stirred at all but lay still ... . Everywhere on earth that day , in the ears of every one who breathed , there had been the same humming in the air , the same rush of green vapors , the crepitation , the streaming down of shooting stars . The Hindoo had stayed his morning 's work in the fields to stare and marvel and fall , the blue-clothed Chinaman fell head foremost athwart his midday bowl of rice , the Japanese merchant came out from some chaffering in his office amazed and presently lay there before his door , the evening gazers by the Golden Gates were overtaken as they waited for the rising of the great star . This had happened in every city of the world , in every lonely valley , in every home and house and shelter and every open place . On the high seas , the crowding steamship passengers , eager for any wonder , gaped and marveled , and were suddenly terror-stricken , and struggled for the gangways and were overcome , the captain staggered on the bridge and fell , the stoker fell headlong among his coals , the engines throbbed upon their way untended , the fishing craft drove by without a hail , with swaying rudder , heeling and dipping ... . The great voice of material Fate cried Halt !