noon
`` Now , '' said he , `` take that languid gentleman with you , and be so good for the rest of your journey as to imitate his indifference to strangers . Thus you will have a prosperous passage . Good day to you . '' He slept on the scene of his exploit , rose early , rode fast , and by noon was plainly in the selvage of the great woods . The country was split into bleak ravines , a pell-mell of rocks and boulders , and a sturdy crop of black pines between them . An overgrowth of brambles and briony ran riot over all . Prosper rode up a dry river-bed , keeping steadily west , so far as it would serve him ; found himself quagged ere a dozen painful miles , floundered out as best he might , and by evening was making good pace over a rolling bit of moorland through which ran a sandy road .