about noon
When the darkness came , they tied my hands , and left me fast to the tree . I slept a good deal , but woke often , and every time from a dream of lying in the heart of a heap of children . With the morning my enemies reappeared , bringing their kicks and their bestial company . It was about noon , and I was nearly failing from fatigue and hunger , when I heard a sudden commotion in the brushwood , followed by a burst of the bell-like laughter so dear to my heart . I gave a loud cry of delight and welcome . Immediately rose a trumpeting as of baby-elephants , a neighing as of foals , and a bellowing as of calves , and through the bushes came a crowd of Little Ones , on diminutive horses , on small elephants , on little bears ; but the noises came from the riders , not the animals . Mingled with the mounted ones walked the bigger of the boys and girls , among the latter a woman with a baby crowing in her arms .